Silver-Haired Stranger
by The Simplest Writer
Summary: Kakashi dies protecting his village fighting against Pein... Except he actually doesn't and is now in the middle of a desert. Great. [Kakashi swaps one war for another, but he only wants to get back home. Things happen along the way.]
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Haha, hi... happy summer y'all. This was something I've been thinking about for a while so here's a short little something. Might continue might not __¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ but I really had fun writing this so who knows!_

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"Oh, another loss! Too bad!"

The con-artist swipes the pile of gold coins from the table as the nobleman in front of him clutches his head at his loss. The people around him wince. Some of the ladies giggle behind their fans. He waves at people to come closer, building the small crowd of the moderately rich near his little stand. They want some kind of excitement to happen within the well-protected walls, so they come to watch who can win or lose their coins.

Of course, they would always lose, not that they would know. The con man knows the Dai Li guard around this time would turn away from the dirty gambling happening at his food stall for a couple of coins. The number of gullible people in the Middle Ring of Ba Sing Se was so much greater than those in the Lower Ring, where the people were more cautious and had little money to throw away for a quick game of skewed chance.

The man scans the crowd and spots a man standing near the edge of the crowd. He's been observing for a couple of rounds. "Who wants to try their luck against me? Place your bet and I'll double it if you pick the cup that holds the stone!" He announces dramatically and strokes his well-groomed mustache as he pretends to think about his next victim. "You there! I can tell you're a lucky one! Come, test your luck." The con whips a finger to point at the man in the back. The crowd parts to see who he has chosen only then is when he gets a reaction from the man. The rice hat tilted to the left and front of his face must be blocking the man's vision.

After a few moments, as if just sensing the crowd's attention on him, the man slightly tilts his hat up to reveal one eye closed behind a long scar and the lower half of his face hidden behind an emerald scarf. The con man grins; it would be even easier to fool only one eye.

"Who, me?" The man points at himself as if not believing the con's declaration. He still steps up towards the cheater's small table to take a look at the three cups laid before him.

"Of course, of course. It's simple after all, anyone can do it. Just choose the cup that has the stone underneath," he lifts the middle one to reveal a small pebble, "and your bet will be matched and doubled by me. What do you say?"

The man thinks, hand place upon where his chin would have been under the thick scarf. Finally, he digs into his pocket to pull up a small pouch with a jingle. The pile of gold coins that land on the table has the scammer nearly salivating. "Would you be able to double that?" the man asks innocently, as if he as a chance of winning.

The scammer chuckles at his question, mustache twitching in amusement. "Quite confident, aren't you? Hope you're as lucky as you think." He places the middle cup back over the pebble and shakes out his hands, hovering them over the cups. "Now, watch carefully…" If there's one thing he's good at, it's sleight of hand. The cups move faster and faster until they're a blur, the pebble moving between the cups in his hands until, eventually, he feels something drop into his lap. He continues to move the cups as if unaware there isn't a pebble under any of the cups until they come to a stop in the same spots the cups started in. "Now then, young man, choose wisely."

The man looks at each of the three cups closely, as if he can discern wish holds the pebble just by staring at them. He taps a finger against his chin before sticking it out towards the middle one. "That one."

"Oh ho! What a choice!" As the con man lifts the cup, he's already starting to reach his other hand towards the pile of gold. "Too bad—"

But the crowd's gasps and cheers stop him from finishing his sentence. There, lying innocently on the table is the pebble. The one that he felt fall into his lap. The con glances down to find the stone missing from where it landed every other time. "How…"

"Oh, I guess today is my lucky day," the man says with a hint of joy (or amusement), eyes curling into happy crescents. The scammer sits dumbly looking at the innocent piece of stone. The man scratches the side of his head with a finger, slightly dislocating his rice hat to reveal silver hair. "Ah, if you wouldn't mind…"

The scammer numbly hands over his pouch of gold coins, a day of work going down the drain. The man who has scammed the scammer nods silently as he takes the pouch and walks away with the rest of the now-satisfied crowd. Even though he's the only one with the rice hat, the con artist immediately loses sight of him.

Kakashi tucks away the hefty pouch into his pocket and wonders if he can finally find some good salt-broiled saury and miso soup with eggplant in this place.

* * *

Kakashi wakes with a mouthful of sand, which should be impossible because his mask is still firmly in place. It should also be impossible because last time he checked, there wasn't an entire desert in Konoha when Pein attacked and killed him and a whole bunch of other Konoha shinobi. It's another impossibility that he's awake in a desert when he clearly died and was about to have a nice conversation with his dead father. All in all, the current situation that Kakashi is stuck in the middle of a vast desert is not ideal.

He lifts his head from the heated sand and quickly lowers his face mask to cough out the grains. His punctured shoulder and extremely low chakra reserves tell Kakashi he's not dreaming and the fight with Pein really did happen. Except reality is still missing the fact that he should be dead. Akimichi Choji should be on his way to Tsunade and report Pein's abilities so they have a chance of defeating them. Kakashi should still be trapped in the rubble of his failure and surrounded by the bodies of his dead comrades. But all around him is just sand.

Kakashi isn't one to panic, but he gives himself a panic attack by considering if this desert wasteland is actually the result of Pein's attack on Konoha. His village, his family, his pack—

The copy nin sluggishly claws at the sand and starts to crawl up the dune he's lying on. When it gets too steep, he pushes himself to his feet and continues on, because he has to see if this really is all that remains of his home. He falls a couple of times, the loose grains slipping away from under his feet. When he finally arrives at the top, Kakashi looks out across the desert and sees nothing of Konoha. He doesn't even see anything familiar from Suna. The only thing that stands out from the sea of sand and the clear blue sky is an unrecognizable slim tower of stone a good distance away. Kakashi runs a hand over his face. His surroundings do not explain anything about where he is or why he isn't dead.

Kakashi's need for emotional support currently outweighs the risk of chakra exhaustion. He bites into his thumb, a fresh bead of red appearing.

"_Kuchiyose no Jutsu._"

A puff of smoke appears but no dog accompanies it. He almost tries again, needing Pakkun, or any of his pack, but fatigue brings him to his knees. In an uncharacteristic show of emotion, Kakashi slams a fist into the sand, sending grains flying, but his face is carved out of stone, still blank. There is no reason that his ninken wouldn't respond to his call, yet here he is, alone on top of a dune in some mysterious desert.

Survival instincts make Kakashi looks back towards the tower (but does he really want to live in a world without his home?). It would take at least an hour to arrive in his poor state. But a building means civilization and civilization means knowledge of where he is.

It's undignified, but Kakashi scoots down the dune, getting sand in places that isn't at all comfortable. What he would give to have a soldier pill right now, but he didn't have any when confronting Pein. When he reaches the bottom of the dune, Kakashi climbs to his feet, not unlike a corpse and starts his trek towards the tower.

While he's walking, Kakashi doesn't ignore the movement on the sand that's heading towards him. He stops as the cloud of sand trailing behind the object comes closer. He finally sees a sailboat skating over the grains of sand with three people riding on it. There isn't any visible village affiliation on it, marking them as non-shinobis. Kakashi can only hope that they're friendly.

Unfortunately, when the boat pulls in front of Kakashi, cutting off his route, two of the riders jump off and start to shout at him. He stares blankly. Kakashi was pretty sure the Elemental Nations doesn't have any other language other than the one spoken by all of the countries. Yet, the two people wrapped in sand-colored clothes suited for the environment seem to be speaking nonsense.

Another clue that he isn't in the Elemental Nations anymore was the fact that the boat had been casually propelled by a mini sand tornado by the third person still standing on the deck. Kakashi doesn't know of any ninjutsu that did that.

"Yo," he greets with a casual wave of his hand. "You guys have any idea where I am?"

The two men look at each other for a brief moment, before turning back to observe him. Then they start shouting once more.

The final clue that this definitely isn't his home is the fact once the two bandits realize Kakashi isn't responding to their demands, they start to make motions with their hands. He tenses but their hands don't come together to make hand seals. Instead, the bandits raise their hands in sync. Kakashi thinks they're doing some strange dance until he feels the sand shift below him. He looks down to confirm that the sand is, in fact, climbing over his feet and up his legs in small streams.

A small part of Kakashi's mind wonders if Gaara knows about these people who can manipulate sand almost as well as he does.

A larger part reacts to the possibility that he might be suffocated by the sand. Two kunai fly from his hand and dig into the throats of his two attackers. Their scarves tear like paper beneath his blades. It seems that they have never encountered a shinobi like him since both reach towards their bleeding necks before they collapse in the sand and the third on the boat screams in horror. Before he can finish off the third, a wall of sand separates them. Kakashi wonders if he's going to die (again) by being crushed under a wave of sand, but the sand simply collapses in place, showing the boat and its driver already speeding away.

Kakashi places his kunai back into his pouch and approaches the two bodies before him. He rummages through their clothes finding pouches hidden deep in pockets. A small bag holds bronze, silver, and a few gold coins, paper ryō bills nowhere in sight.

He plucks his kunai from their throats and undoes the least bloodstained headwrap from one of the bandits, revealing a scruffy-looking man, face still morphed into an expression of shock. Cutting off the bloodied part still leaves a good amount to cover his silver hair and navy face mask. He cleans off the kunai on the leftover cloth. Kakashi wonders if the people in the tower would accept him dressed up like a bandit, but his green flak jacket in the middle of the desert would bring too much attention. He takes it off and folds it away into one of the spare empty bags from the other bandit. He also puts away his navy long-sleeve. Kakashi also grabs the outer off-white shirt from the bandit and pulls it over the skin-tight tank that connects to his face mask. He hoists the spare bag over his shoulder. At least that would blend him it a bit.

There's also a water pouch and a pouch of a few pieces of salted meat. Kakashi briefly considers if they're poisoned, but the fact that the bandits' unfamiliarity with death makes that unlikely. Still, Kakashi only takes a small bite of the salted meat even though he wants to shove the whole thing down his throat. He continues to walk towards the tall tower, waiting around ten minutes before believing it safe to eat the whole slice. He does the same thing with the water.

The food makes Kakashi feel a bit better but it's reaching noon in the sweltering desert. He doesn't know how Suna shinobi deal with this climate.

When Kakashi finally arrives at the tower, he looks for a door into the building by circling around it. Finding none, he looks upon the spiral design decorating the bricks of the tower. Kakashi spots a window at the very top. At least if there aren't any people within the obviously ancient structure, it would protect him against the burning sun.

Luckily, it doesn't take much chakra to defy gravity. Kakashi carefully gathers his chakra to the soles of his feet and starts the climb up to the open window. It doesn't take long to arrive, allowing Kakashi to crouch upon the window sill to glance inside. He takes off the headwrap irritating his scalp.

Instead of having a floor within, the tower is completely hollow. The walls are lined with golden detailing, leading down into the depths below. He scratches the back of his head. This isn't what he was expecting at all. Kakashi debates the risks of entering the buried building, but the wind whistling at his back makes him turn around to observe the desert. The giant sandstorm on the horizon decides for him.

Kakashi carefully moves down the golden walls and makes sure to brace himself as he lands on the walkway below. The motifs of owls stare down at Kakashi as he turns around. No people come to check the noise of him landing. Behind the arches of owls are hundreds upon hundreds of bookshelves, spanning even more floors below him. As much as Kakashi wants to jump into the books to understand where exactly he's ended up when he should be protecting his village, he slides down the banister nearest to him. Kakashi is just too exhausted. As his eyes finally droop closed, he can hear the faint flapping of wings. Kakashi assumes that in this giant library there must be some birds that end up in here.

Of course, when Kakashi finally falls asleep, he doesn't see the giant mass of black feathers land before him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_A/N: On a roll! We'll see how long it lasts haha. Kakashi's thrown into the deep end. Hope you guys enjoy and be sure to comment, review, and favorite! They fuel my hunger.._

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His mind plagues him with nightmares of his village. That his Kamui wasn't enough to save Chōji and that news of Pein's abilities never arrived to Tsunade. Pein stands over his friends and family, a blonde corpse lying at his feet. Hands clamber all over Kakashi's body, pulling him down into the dirt, with whispers of despair creating a cacophony around him. It surprises Kakashi that he doesn't wake up screaming.

Kakashi tenses when he senses he's no longer alone. He pretends that he's still asleep while he gathers his bearings without sight. He hasn't been moved from the spot he fell asleep and no sun bearing down on him makes Kakashi wonder how much time has passed. A shadow is blocking the eerie green torchlight to his right. Whatever it is, it's tall, reaching far above Kakashi's sitting position. He continues to breath evenly.

"I know you're awake," a male voice next to him sounds. It echoes slightly, but not because of the area around them.

Kakashi is momentarily surprised that he can finally understand someone. At the same time, he becomes more cautious since there's a possibility that this is another shinobi. But when Kakashi opens his eye, he doesn't expect the voice to come from a giant black barn owl.

"Uh…" Kakashi's exhausted mind tries to think of any owl summon that could've followed him but comes up with nothing. Even then, Kumo's bird summons look nothing like the menacing owl in front of him.

The owl tilts its head at Kakashi's stunned respond. It's beady eyes narrow as if it's looking at a rodent. "I've allowed you refuge for long enough. Humans are no longer welcomed in my library. Now leave."

Kakashi gets to his feet slowly. "My bad, I'll just be on my way then…" He glances up and wonders if the owl would mind him walking on the arches of owls to reach the ceiling.

The owl's head suddenly moves backwards then forwards, closer to Kakashi's face than he felt comfortable. "What language is that?"

Kakashi is baffled. "Excuse me?"

The owl flares his wings a bit, feathers becoming ruffled, as if Kakashi's ignorance offends him. "I am Wan Shi Tong, he who knows ten thousand things, yet I have never heard your language before."

Kakashi decides that it's relative safe to relax in front of Wan Shi Tong, still trying to parse whether or not this thing is a very real hallucination or not. "Name's Kakashi. If you don't know what language I'm speaking, how are you speaking it?"

The owl actually scoffs at him. "The language of spirits transcends the language of man. You are merely hearing it in the language you understand best. Now answer my question, human."

If this owl spirit thing really does know ten thousand things, maybe it would know a way to get Kakashi back to his village. "Are you not familiar with the language of the Elemental Nations?"

"Of course I am, but you are not speaking it. There are no known variations that sound like yours between the four nations."

Four nations. This is bad. Last time Kakashi checked, there are supposed to be a lot more countries than four.

Wan Shi Tong takes Kakashi's silence as a telling answer. "You don't know where you are, do you?"

"How can you tell?" He responds weakly, the reality that he's not even close to his own world hitting him hard.

The owl hums at him. "I assume you require knowledge of this place. However, due humans abusing my study for their wars and petty squabbles, I've banned all humans from using my tomes."

Kakashi needs those books. There has to be something in the hundreds of stacks that would tell him how to get home. "No war efforts here. I really just need to get back to my own place. And maybe some basic knowledge about where I am."

Wan Shi Tong once again considers him, thinking for a moment, judging. The intimidating bird finally leans back. "Very well. However, knowledge must be exchanged for knowledge. I require something to add to my collection."

Kakashi considers everything on his person. There aren't many things that are well suited for a library. He would like to keep his kunai and shuriken in case he can't find someone to reproduce them. There are only two books on his person that he could— he couldn't… could he? Tears almost well up in his eyes as he considers what he must give up. With a shaking hand, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out the green-covered book. While he would never give up his favorite novel, it pains his heart to give up—

"Here." Kakashi thrusts out Icha _Icha Tactics _to the owl, unable to witness the sacrifice of his precious romance novel. Now that the code that Jiraiya hid in the book had been decrypted, the book held no greater value other than being the last book the Sannin had written. And while it was one of the more captivating books in the series, Kakashi would never give up his copy of _Icha Icha Paradise._

"Hm, a book in an unknown language. Your written language shares a similarity with this land's. It will be interesting to translate it." Wan Shi Tong waves one of his giant wings over the book, vanishing it from Kakashi's hand. He makes sure the tear doesn't fall. "Very well, I will allow you to peruse my library. However, know that I will not be so forgiving if you betray my trust." The owl flares his wings to an impressive wingspan and dives off the walkway into the darkness below.

Kakashi watches the owl fly out of sight while scratching the back of his head. "Thanks for the help." He faces the many, many bookshelves and wonders where exactly to start. Kakashi hears a yip behind him and turns around. "Well, isn't this ironic."

There's a brown fox standing behind him with a scroll in its mouth. The two have a stare down for a brief moment. Kakashi hesitates before he asks, "You wouldn't happen to know where I can find books on world traveling, would you?"

The fox doesn't start speaking like Wan Shi Tong but runs down the aisles of books. Its head swings back to check if Kakashi is following. He follows it into the far shelves of the library, moving deeper and deeper into the tall stacks. The fox finally sits in front of one of the shelves that looks no different from the others. Kakashi grabs one of the books and realizes he has no idea what it says. He looks back to the fox, still sitting there with its fluffy tail swaying behind it. "Could you help me find some books on learning the language please?"

It tilts its head at him, like its wondering why a man who can't read is here in this library, but it starts to move towards the other side of the collection. Kakashi obediently follows. When it arrives at his destination, it drops the scroll in its mouth. When the fox starts running straight up the bookshelf, Kakashi has to wonder if it's using chakra. Before he thinks to reveal his Sharingan, it grabs a thin book in its mouth and leaps back down to Kakashi.

He carefully takes the book from its mouth and flips it to the first page. It's a children's book. The fox would definitely be laughing at him if it could. "Alright, alright." Kakashi reaches into one of the many pockets on his pants and takes out one of the treats he usually saves for his ninken. He tosses it to the fox and it effortlessly catches it in its mouth. "Is there any food in here that I can eat?" But instead promptly leading him to food, the fox whines as if disappointed that it couldn't help. "Thought not, thanks anyways." The fox finishes its treat and grabs its scroll before wandering off into the library. Kakashi makes himself comfortable on the floor against the shelf and starts his lessons in this land's language.

In the underground library, time passes without interruption. The daylight streaming in through the tower's window fades away and the green glow from the crystal torches become Kakashi's only reading light. The pile of books steadily grows beside him. Reading keeps him from sleeping, which is good news since the few hours he does doze off are plagued with nightmares of familiar corpses. Each time he wakes up, there's a plate of fruits and nuts and a bowl of water next to him with a white-tipped tail waving out of sight. Kakashi considers calling the fox Naruto.

His chakra slowly recovers as well as his injuries. Kakashi isn't the best with healing jutsu but it gets the job done.

Wan Shi Tong sometimes comes to check up on Kakashi, walking passed the aisle that Kakashi is stationed at. He doesn't speak to the owl and the owl doesn't speak to him. Kakashi only gives the giant bird a nod, to which the bird turns away and continues to patrol his library. Kakashi thinks the only reason why Wan Shi Tong checks in is to make sure there wasn't a decomposing body rotting on the valuable books.

When he's passed the child's level, Kakashi pushes up his headband to reveal his Sharingan. With the dōjutsu, copying the higher-level books' grammar and words to memory becomes much easier. Being a genius also comes in handy. When Kakashi finally reaches higher-education level, he returns to the original stack that the fox had led him to. Another pile of books grows. The only reference to world travel in the books is from the physical world to the Spirit World and vice versa.

Kakashi assumes the worse and goes to find the section for history books. Even within those tomes he finds nothing about his world of shinobi. Instead, he learns about the four nations and their history. He learns about the benders and how they manipulate the elements of the world through chi, not chakra and ninjutsu. He learns about the Hundred Year War, which sounds absolutely horrible to a person who's lived through the Third Shinobi World War. When he looks up any mention of shinobi and chakra, all he sees are fantastical tales of ninjas and chakra being described as points of energy in the body.

As he lies down to stare at the ceiling, Kakashi wonders if he'll ever return to Konoha (if it still exists). The thought alone makes his heart drop through his chest. A soft whine sounds and a wet nose touches his hair.

"Yo, Naruto." He brings his hand up to put it on top of the fox's head. After spending enough days here, Kakashi finally gave in and named the fox. "Seems that I'm stuck here. I've abandoned my village in its time of need. What am I going to do?" The words of the foreign language fall off his tongue unfamiliar and messy.

The fox licks his hand and moves back making Kakashi sit up to look at his companion. It grabs his sleeve and tugs at him. "Okay, I'm coming. Hang on."

They walk through the library in silence, soft footfalls echoing around them. Kakashi spots other foxes maneuvering through the aisles. Naruto the fox leads him to a separate room, full of boxes of scrolls. Along the wall are various murals depicting different scenes and people. Kakashi looks to the fox, but it sits and licks its paw, its work already done. He moves into the room to observe the aged pictures. The characters on the yellowed paper identify the various people as Avatars. A spot of dull gray on the canvas catches his eye.

Kakashi's surprised to find his own face staring back at him. Most of the color is gone from the painting as well as the minor details, but the silver hair and Konoha headband is undeniably him. He almost looks peaceful with both of his eyes closed and one arm crossing over his chest, except for the fact that he's holding a _Chidori _in his right hand. There's no signature from the artist, but there are words next to his figure. He translates them as: "_Silvered-haired stranger: The lighting cutter saves our world._"

The fact they reference his _Chidori _and gray hair specifically makes Kakashi feel like his arrival in this world isn't quite an accident. His face doesn't budge, but a cold rage envelops his heart. Who's right was it to tear him away from his own home's problem to solve someone else's? He grabs the picture of himself off the wall and holds it between his hands.

A ruffle of feathers alerts him to the library owner's presence. "I had thought you looked familiar."

"Do you mind clearing this up for me?" Kakashi says as he turns to face the owl, waving the painting.

Wong Shi Tong pauses to consider Kakashi's horrible pronunciation of the common language. "Hmph. I don't bother to memorize where my pieces come from, only the knowledge contained within them." The owl peers closer at the words. "I'm afraid I don't understand the meaning behind the message other than the literal. It seems that you are destined to assist saving the physical world."

"Except I have my own world that needs saving," Well, his village, which is his whole world. "so, I'm afraid that I don't have time to spare."

"Perhaps once you complete your work here, you may return to your world." Wan Shi Tong puffs his feathers. "I am embarrassed to admit that your situation is one that I have not encountered before. I should have you stuffed so that I can study you."

When the giant owl spirit doesn't look like it's joking, Kakashi realizes he's probably over stayed his welcome.

He starts to roll up the scroll of himself. "Ah, sorry, but I don't plan on being stuffed anytime soon. Hope you don't mind, but I'll be keeping this." It would be best if there was no trace of his presence here. "and if you wouldn't mind sparing me a map, that would be appreciated."

When the owl doesn't move from the doorway, Kakashi grows weary. "After all I have to go save the world, right? No more world means no more knowledge."

At that, Wan Shi Tong allows Kakashi to move back into the main hall of the library. "Very well. One of my knowledge-seekers should give you one of the duplicates that I have. I expect it to be returned in pristine condition."

Kakashi doesn't explain that he has no intention of ever returning to this desert. They make their way back walkway under the tower where he entered, Naruto the fox already waiting there with a map in its mouth. Kakashi takes the scroll and hands off the last of his dog treats. The fox happily takes it and moves back towards the shelves, but not disappearing. Kakashi doesn't forget to give thanks to the owl spirit and bows. "Thank you for taking care of me, Wan Shi Tong. I hope my book entertains you."

The owl actually raises its wing to cough behind. He must've been able to translate it. "Yes, well… I wish you luck, Kakashi. You were one of my better visitors. Do not ruin my items."

He looks up to the high ceiling. With no harsh sunlight, it must've been evening in the desert. Kakashi glances at Wong Shi Tong. "Is it too much to ask for a lift?"

The owl stares back with its black holes for eyes.

"Right…" So Kakashi moves towards one of the pillars and starts his jog against gravity back up to the exit.

He doesn't look back to see the two animal spirits look at each other in confusion as they watch the human run up the wall of the library and out of sight.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_A/N: Still not much action, but getting there. Next chapter will get interesting (I hope). Warning for you manga purists out there, Kakashi uses a fire jutsu (which apparently he only uses in the anime) (for a guy who apparently knows one-thousand jutsus he doesn't use that many). Hope you guys enjoy and be sure to comment, review, and favorite! They fuel my hunger..._

* * *

The setting sun makes the map easier to read and helps Kakashi orient himself northward. The parchment is crumbling, and the names of towns are blurred beyond recognition. He wonders if the map is even useful with how old it is. The desert that Kakashi's stranded in takes up a large region in the center, if the tan color and unmarked topography is correct. In the map's desert is a small, deliberate puncture mark, as if it was made from a small tooth or claw. Kakashi's eye curls happily at the clever fox's helpfulness.

But where to go from here? It was obvious that Kakashi should be looking for some way to "save the world" so he can somehow get home, but the scroll isn't really clear on how to do that. He sits down on the roof of the tower and pulls out the scroll depicting his figure. He follows his own advice of "look underneath the underneath" and scans the scroll for any other hint. Kakashi blames the fact that he's still in a different world that he hasn't had the idea to look at the back of the paper until now. He's surprised to find a small mark in the corner that look like badly drawn concentric circles. There aren't any words accompanying it, but the circles are intentionally drawn on with black ink.

He looks back to the map on his lap and finds a similar marking. To the northwest of the desert is a large encircled area made of different rings. The largest one is misshapen to include some of the land's mountains and a lake while the smaller rings grow closer and closer to perfect circles. Kakashi compares the two markings with each other and finds that they're exactly the same. He supposes that as big of a hint he's going to get.

Kakashi stands up, tucking the two papers back into the sack. He looks out into the horizon, spotting a stone structure off towards the north. That would be a good place to rest during the day. It's cool enough to travel without being cooked alive by the sun, but it would still take while to reach it while traveling on foot. He tugs the headwrap back over his head and makes the ram seal with his hands. Kakashi disappears with a puff of smoke with a _Shunshin_.

He reappears in the sand below a bit away from the library's tower, but he still has the whole night of travelling to reach the stone landmark. Kakashi decides to save his chakra for emergencies only and continues his journey though the desert on foot. While he jogs, Kakashi pulls out one of the fruits he saved from the plates that the fox had given him and snacks on it. He had also refilled his small water pouch bit by bit from the water bowls.

Still, the water will only last so long in the dryness of the desert. Even when rationing it out, Kakashi finishes around half of his small pouch. He doesn't see any green on the horizon other than the odd cactus. Small lizards running on their hind legs are the only other signs of life in the wasteland. By the time he arrives at the large rock, the sun is starting to rise in the east and the temperature is already climbing.

The rock is marred by giant holes all over. Kakashi peers inside to find some kind of thick, opaque honey stuck to the walls. He wonders if there are giant bee spirits in this world as well. At least the floor is clean.

A buzzing sound resonates deep with the cave. Kakashi looks into the darkness to find large flying bodies moving towards him. The sunlight hits the shadows within, revealing a horrendous cross between a vulture and a hornet. Kakashi grabs a kunai from his pouch just as the beast leading the group screeches at him. He can't see how many others are deep in the cave, but there are three already rushing at him.

Kakashi holds his kunai across his body and counts down in his mind. The bird wasps come closer and closer. It opens its sharp beak to attack. Kakashi kicks off the wall and jumps to meet the bird, kunai cutting through its thin neck. The head and body separate in two different directions. The thorax and abdomen crash into the rocks beside him. The other giant bugs ignore their downed comrade to attack him. Kakashi slices through necks, legs, and exoskeleton. The giant wasps keep coming. The floor is stained with dark blood. He ducks and weaves around each one, cutting deeply into their wings and heads.

Their bodies start to pile up in the cave, limiting his motion. When more and more start appearing from the depths of the hive, Kakashi jumps backwards, shoving his kunai back into his pouch. His hands blur through hand seals until he brings one up to his covered mouth.

"_Katon:__ Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Great Fireball)_!" A fireball fills the cave, setting alight the honey on the walls. The screeches of the dying creatures are loud. When the fire moves deeper into the stone hive, it reveals the charred bodies of the large bird-insects. He looks to the other many openings of the rock to see other buzzard wasps escape the smoke. A few others spot him, cawing as they swoop down. He takes care of those few swiftly. The rest all fly off into the desert. They'll probably return sooner or later.

For now, Kakashi can make a base within one of the other openings that isn't filled with the bodies of the creatures. He wonders if there are any normal animals in this place.

With a few hand seals, Kakashi slams his palms into the cave's floor. "_Doton: __Doryūheki (Earth-Style Wall)._" A wall of rock springs from the ground and seals off the opening from the rest of the hive. The sun climbs higher in the east, making Kakashi sweat just from the temperature alone. He props himself against the wall, head leaning against the cool stone. He keeps his kunai in his hand, ready for when those giant wasps return.

Behind closed eyes, Kakashi sees the crater that is Konoha. There's a spot of pink hair from under a large boulder and a girl with thick purple markings on her cheeks stares listlessly into the sky. The memorial stone stands tall, casting a shadow over him. When Kakashi turns around, he finds the man orange hair with purple eyes with the body of his blonde student clutched in his hand, holding him by the throat. "You did this," Pein says while pointing his other hand at him. A steel rod extends from his palm and pierces Kakashi's heart. It hurts less than seeing the ruins of his village.

When Kakashi wakes up it's already afternoon, but he doesn't know if it's the same day or not. His joints creak when he stands, and his muscles are outrageously sore. His internal clock is completely thrown off. Kakashi sips at his water pouch and finds it draining. There still isn't a hint of him finding the edge of the desert anytime soon. Kakashi climbs to the top of the rock hive to get a better vantage point.

He looks all around and finds a couple of tan tents with red flags set up. It looks to be a merchant camp from the tiny specks of people milling around. Kakashi bets that they'll be able to trade him some food and water for some of his coins.

So, Kakashi leaps from the rock and makes his way over the flatlands of the desert to hopefully friendly merchants (though with his track record right now, it's fifty-fifty). Luckily, no one attacks him when he arrives at the largest tent. The merchants with beetle helmets just look at him strangely, which is warranted as he somehow found their camp on foot and without company. His bandit disguise also doesn't trigger anyone to attack, letting him walk into the tent peacefully. He does get weirded out by the giant beetle though, not that it was any worse than Tsunade's slug summons.

Kakashi is able to load up on food and water after some haggling in the foreign language, getting extra pouches of resources. If Kakashi got the feeling their trying to scam him, let it be known that he did _not_ eye-smile creepily at them until the beetle merchants lessened their price.

He's in the middle of buying some cloth from one of the smaller tents when two more of those sand sailboats arrive at the camp with others dressed similar to him. Kakashi makes sure to keep his head ducked and continues his transaction but eyes focused on them. They're tugging some giant animal behind them, dragging it across the sand.

Two merchants arrive to deal with the new arrivals while Kakashi tucks a thick navy-blue blanket into his bag. It's when Kakashi is moving towards the smallest of the tents does the white, fluffy giant gives a roar. He looks at the scene before him.

The animal looks like a giant bison… if giant bison had six legs and a platypus tail. There's an arrow marking down the middle of its head, which Kakashi can't tell if its natural or dyed onto the white fur. The bandits have captured it in a crisscross of ropes, some he can tell are tight enough to cut off circulation. The merchants hand off a fancy looking box to the bandits and they get together to drag the animal onto a sleigh with claws to hold it down.

Suddenly, the bison starts thrashing in its restraints. The sand bandits take off with their case of money, leaving the beetle merchants to deal with the giant animal. Kakashi is handing off a silver coin for a rice hat when the beast pushes off the ground with a flap of its tail, dragging the beetle over itself. One of the merchants whips out some blow darts and the bison comes crashing down.

Kakashi spots the saddle on top of the animal and knows that it's been stolen from someone. If it had been the bandits', they would've ridden it on the way here instead of tying it with ropes. As a ninken owner, Kakashi doesn't approve of animal abuse. So when he sees that its struggling to escape, he has to do something about it.

Kakashi approaches the two beetle merchants with a friendly wave. "Yo!"

"Sandbender," one of them growls. "how dare you sell us some troublesome animal!"

"Hey, don't look at me." Kakashi waves his hand nonchalantly. "I'm not with them. But if you could hand over the bison to me, that'd be great."

The merchants turn to each other before looking back at him. They start to laugh so hard they double over. "And why would we do that? There's a circus who would give a lot of money to have such a beast!"

While circuses existed in his world, Konoha had all but banned them after the Inuzuka clan was up in arms about the abuse the animals experienced. Kakashi didn't want to make any assumptions, but an already-owned animal wouldn't make a good circus animal.

Kakashi sighs before his relaxed eye suddenly turns serious. With a silent _Shunshin_, he appears before the two merchants with kunai inches from their throats. The entire camp is silent. "Because if you don't, you and the rest of your band of merchants will die, and I'll take the bison from your corpses." Kakashi usually didn't like threatening civilians, but he felt this was necessary.

The two merchants gulp, throats dangerously bulging to press against the sharp kunai. Kakashi even draws a line of blood from one of them.

"Al-Alright!" the one on his right shouts. "We'll give you the flying bison! Pl-please, just spare us!" They both start crying.

Kakashi pulls back and they both fall into the sand, weeping heavily. He turns to look at the tents, finding the rest of the merchants ducking behind their stalls. Kakashi turns back to the unconscious bison and the now upright giant beetle, nervously skittering in place. He turns back to the merchants, eye turned into a careless smile. "Hope you don't mind, but I'll be needing your beetle too." They obviously don't say a word of protest.

Kakashi rides the beetle (and isn't that a strange thought) through the desert back to the stone hive. He makes sure to check inside that the buzzard wasps didn't return yet. Kakashi finds a couple that he deals with swiftly before turning back towards the two ride animals.

He cuts the ropes attaching the sleigh to the beetle with a quick swipe of his knife. The beetle scuttles in place, somewhat confused. It seems they were more intelligent than his world's average animals, but not to the level of summons. Kakashi waves the beetle off, "Go on, you're free." And with that, the giant beetle runs off into the desert. He hopes there's actually not something big enough to eat it.

The bison is still unconscious, so Kakashi takes this time to undo claws holding it in place. In case it rampages when it wakes up, he leaves a couple of ropes in place. With its thick, white fur, the bison isn't suited at all for the desert's climate. Kakashi just hopes that it doesn't overheat when it reaches noon tomorrow. Luckily the sun is setting and the sand is starting to cool down.

Kakashi settles down next to the bison, one knee propped against his chest and an arm draped across. He takes the headwrap off, spiky silver hair flying free. Kakashi stays awake for as long as he can, but the nightmares eventually catch up to him.


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: Yo! Hopefully this chapter gets uploaded right this time haha. That was pretty embarrassing last chapter, yikes. Again, promise that action will arrive in the next chapter, but at least we get some good Kakashi and Appa fluff. Sorry for naming Appa "Shiro", but I don't think Kakashi's exactly the most creative person with names. Please leave a comment, follow, favorite, maybe all three! They're a real confidence booster and lets me know that my writing isn't bad lol_

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**Chapter 4**

Kakashi wakes to a large brown eye staring back at him. The bison had obviously woken before him as the white fur is mused from it struggling against the ropes. It lets out a low growl and tosses its head as if wanting to impale its horns into him.

Kakashi holds up his hands, trying to convey his friendly intentions. "Hey, can you speak?"

The bison only opens its mouth to release a loud roar that rattles the cave. Kakashi takes it as a no. He wonders if the difference between the land's animals and spirits is just lost on him. Still, Kakashi is careful to avoid getting within biting range of the bison, spotting the large teeth that could crush bones with ease. When he stands up slowly, the beast lets out another roar.

"Hey, don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you." He approaches one of the ropes still binding the bison down to the wooden structure. It's manipulative of him, keeping the bison bound until Kakashi woke up when he could've let the bison leave anytime during the night. But he needs the bison, having the ability to fly was would be invaluable for getting out of the desert with menial resources.

The bison obviously doesn't trust his words, shaking the wooden sleigh dangerously. It thrashes back and forth in rage and fear, its wide tail flapping against the floor of the cave. Kakashi kneels by one of the ropes, far enough that the bison can't whip its head to get him but close enough that the animal can see him from the corner of its eye. He quickly grabs a kunai and cuts through the rope binding its neck.

At the sudden lack of tension, the bison lifts its head and stops thrashing. It turns to face him, but Kakashi doesn't flinch. The two maintain eye contact with each other, black meeting brown. His hands are empty again when he raises them to the bison. "See? No harm done. Now, will you let me undo the rest of them?" Maybe Kakashi is going insane, talking to an animal like it's a human, but he's too used to hanging around his ninken.

Even though it can't talk, the beast huffs a breath through its big nose, musing Kakashi's already wild hair. Somehow, he can tell the bison still doesn't trust him but is willing to let him try. He moves over to the other ropes and cut through each one, expertly with one swipe but not nicking the bison at all.

When the last rope is undone, the bison rises to its feet, quickly backing out of the cave. Kakashi wonders if it's going to fly off and leave him stranded. And it looks like it about to do exactly that, legs bent and tail hanging in the air, ready to flap and launch its body into the sky. Instead, it eyes him again, growling as if asking a question. Why did he help it?

Kakashi stands where he is and figures that it wouldn't hurt to spill his story to something that can't speak and maybe can't understand him. "Look, I'm hoping to get out of this desert just like you. Maybe I can help you find your owner? As long as I can get out of here, I don't care where we go."

He grabs an apple from his pouch and holds it out as a peace offering. It's tiny in the face of the giant bison but he hopes that the animal is intelligent enough to understand the meaning behind the gesture.

The bison considers the fruit for a moment, getting an almost wistful expression on its face, as if it's remembering a long-forgotten memory. Kakashi has seen a similar expression when he looks into a mirror or on the polished surface of the memorial stone. For something that can't talk, the bison conveys what it's feeling well enough. It approaches him slowly until it's in reach to take the apple (or his hand). Kakashi carefully doesn't move as the bison opens its maw wide, wider than it needs to for the small apple. The bison's jaw snaps closed with far too much speed, making Kakashi tense, yet his hand doesn't move. With expert accuracy, the apple is gone from his untouched hand, easily swallowed by the giant before him.

"Guess this means we're a team." Kakashi scratches his head. "I guess you already have a name, but I can't exactly keep calling you just 'bison'. Hope you don't mind the nickname 'Shiro' for the time being."

Shiro is obviously disgruntled with the new name but doesn't attempt to bite Kakashi, which he takes as a good sign. It moves so that Kakashi is facing its side, saddle reflecting the sunlight, and bend its legs so that it's easier to reach the seat above its body.

Kakashi gracefully jumps up to the saddle without the help of Shiro's fur, kicking up a cloud of sand behind him. Shiro gives a start, as if not expecting him to be able to jump that high, quickly moving to its feet. Kakashi hopes that he didn't startle the animal too badly. He sees a rope that's tied between its horns that acts as reins and thinks he should hold it.

Except, that's a bad idea because the moment Kakashi grasps the rope in his hand, Shiro gives a loud roar and tosses its head. He quickly releases the reins, but the bison is still growling. Kakashi settles back against the roll of thick cloth. "Alright, alright. Sorry." It seems that the reins are for Shiro's owner only.

At that, the bison is settled. It seems that Kakashi has no hope in steering it, so he hopes that Shiro knows where to go. With a powerful flap of its tail, they're in the sky flying towards wherever the bison is taking them.

Kakashi doesn't bother thinking about how exactly a heavy animal is flying without wings. In a world with spirits and people able to move elements without chakra, a flying bison fits in just fine. Still, it's definitely one of the weirdest experiences he's had. Flying doesn't sit well with him, preferring to have control of where he moves on the ground. From the high vantage point, Kakashi sees the closest edge of the desert and that they're flying away from it. He lies down on the wide saddle, hoping that Shiro knows where it's going. Their flight is silent, Kakashi never feeling talkative and Shiro being a nonverbal animal.

After the sun has reached and passed its peak, Kakashi feels the flying bison starting to descend. He looks over the edge of the saddle to see them landing in a large crater. Kakashi jumps off and examines the area around him. Shiro is obviously distraught by the sight, pawing at the ground with one of its six legs.

The crater is unnatural; it's made of sand but has steep, sharp edges instead of a rounded indentation. Striations lead to a point in the center, almost as if something sucked the sand down around them. Still, even with the odd landmark, Kakashi finds nothing of importance.

Still, Shiro collapses to the ground with a groan, its eyes shut in a pained expression. Maybe this is where it was separated from its owner. Kakashi carefully approaches and places a hand on its arrow, petting its surprisingly soft fur. It gazes at him with a half-closed eye.

Petting the giant beast makes Kakashi remember his ninken, remember Pakkun, his tiny pug partner. He misses them deeply, wishing he could summon them so he could have someone, anyone, from his world to keep him company. Kakashi wonders if this is how Shiro's owner feels right now. At that thought, Kakashi vows to reunite Shiro to whoever is its owner.

"Hey, come on, we got to get out of here," he says to the grieving bison.

Shiro just moans at him.

"We aren't going to get anywhere if you mope around this place. Your owner isn't here and the longer you wait, the further away he or she might get." At that, the bison straightens. "That's the spirit," and Kakashi leaps onto its back once more. "Now let's find some actual shelter. I doubt my stash of water and fruits will last long with you around."

They take off again into the desert, but this time heading towards the line of green on the horizon. Kakashi keeps an eye out on anything that stands out in the desert but sees nothing but sand.

The sun is setting and Shiro is dipping towards the sandy ground. Kakashi hears a deep growl beneath him, but it doesn't come from the bison's mouth.

Kakashi knows he needs to find a farm big enough to feed and house the bison. So it's with great luck that he spots a house in the fields near the desert. Kakashi pats Shiro's side, lowering his upper body so that the bison can see him. "There's a house over there that might give us a bit of shelter for the night. Hopefully, they'll have some food and water." He points at the barely visible structure.

Shiro makes a grumble and adjusts its course to head towards the house. It's a messy landing that digs up some of the crops, but Kakashi can bargain his way out of it. "Wait here," he says when he sees the bison eye the open barn house, in which lies piles of hay. "I'll get their permission, and then you can feast on that."

Unfortunately, the couple that owns the farm runs out of their small house to discover what made such a ruckus in their fields at night. The man holds a pitchfork while the woman holds a torch. They spot the giant animal before they see Kakashi. The people scream and wave their weapons at Shiro. The flying bison doesn't take their attack kindly, rearing up on its hind legs with a roar.

Kakashi steps in between them and waves his hands. "Please wait!" he hopes that they understand him through his horrible pronunciation. "We mean no harm."

The man lowers his pitchfork and the woman finally stops screaming. "Wh-who are you?" the farmer asks hesitantly. His eyes flicker to Kakashi's wild silver hair.

"My name is Kakashi, and this is Shiro." He motions to the bison, who falls back down to all four legs with a thud. "Please, we're just looking for shelter and food for the night. We were stranded in the desert and just managed to escape."

The man moves his pitchfork even lower but still doesn't drop it. "I'm sorry, but we just don't have enough to feed you and your… pet."

Kakashi needs to feed the bison. Without energy for the large mammal, there'd be no way for them to move anywhere. He moves into a deep bow. "I beg of you; we'll be out of your hair in the morning. I'll even work through the night to repair the damages and even more. I'll do anything you wish in exchange for hay for my bison. I can even stay in the barn."

At that possessive, the bison lets loose a growl. Kakashi has to silence Shiro with a look. The animal isn't exactly helping their case here.

"I don't know…"

"Oh, come on, Xi, look at them," the wife finally speaks up from behind her husband. Kakashi tries not to feel offended when she motions to his ragged clothes and messy hair. "I think they can take the barn for the night. And the man can pull up some of the harder crops in the early morning."

"But Nori—"

She places a hand on his arm. "That's spare hay anyways. You were going to toss it sooner or later. And with Kakashi here, we won't have to pay Bing's son for extra work."

The farmer looks at his wife and back to Kakashi and his traveling companion. He finally puts the pitchfork against his shoulder. "Fine, but you'll have to get up early to help me in the fields."

Kakashi finally straightens from his bow and doesn't even need to fake the gratitude in his voice. "Thank you so much. We really are grateful. Right, Shiro?" The bison huffs behind him.

The couple leads them to the barn and shows Kakashi what piles Shiro can eat from. Nori even brings out a plate of cooked meat and vegetables for Kakashi, to which he hands her a few silver coins. She tries to deny them, saying that he's already volunteered to help, but Kakashi insists.

Shiro happily munches on the wheat while Kakashi enjoys his dinner. He'd still prefer to have his favorite dish at Yakiniku Q, surrounded by his fellow jōnin teachers cooking meat on the grill as they gossip about their students, each trying to prove that their team is the best. Asuma and Kurenai would always sit next to each other, almost cuddling, while Kakashi would balance out Gai's enthusiasm.

But now he's here in a barn staring at an empty plate. He places it to the side and props himself on the nearest wall. Kakashi undoes the headwrap and tucks it into his sack now that he's not in the desert anymore. He still has the rice hat hung around his neck with its string. A low grumble brings his attention to Shiro, now well fed and watered. The bison is comfortably laying on its side and facing him.

"What?" Kakashi stands up to go check on his travel companion. He hopes the bison isn't sick.

Shiro rolls back onto its stomach and curls into a ball. The large tail gentle pushes him forward into the bison's soft fur.

"You feeling a bit lonely?" Kakashi asks with amusement. But deep down, he knows that the closeness isn't for the bison. Even though Kakashi has witnessed Shiro's intelligence, the giant bison continues to surprise him. He slides down and leans against the warm body. "Fine, fine."

Shiro lets out a loud yawn and Kakashi follows suit. He places the pointed hat upon his head and tilts it down to cover his face. "G'night, Shiro."

The steady breathing of the bison answers back. For the first time in many nights, Kakashi's sleep is undisturbed.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

_A/N: Really had fun with this chapter! I don't really have experience writing fight scenes so please tell me how I did. Constructive criticism is always welcome! Any comments, follows, favorites are as well ;) until next time._

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The sun isn't even up when Xi the farmer stirs Kakashi from his slumber. Xi looks somewhat apologetic but Kakashi waves him off. He looks at his giant traveling companion and finds the bison fast asleep. A soft smile is hiding behind his face mask. Kakashi adjusts the rice hat on his head and heads out into the field. Xi has him first replace the plants that Shiro accidentally crushed when they landed. The farmer shows him the proper way to dig up a hole for a new crop and make sure that it's planted at the proper depth. The work reminds Kakashi of the D-rank missions back home, where he and his team would have to help civilians with odd jobs like weeding their gardens or working in the fields like this. With his name meaning "scarecrow", Kakashi isn't surprised to find himself liking the menial work of farming.

When the sun finally shows itself, Nori comes out of the house to give him and her husband a glass of water and a bun for breakfast. While they work, Xi decides to make conversation with Kakashi, making small talk to pass the time.

"Where are you from?"

"Oh, here and there."

"What do you do?"

"I'm just a simple traveler, going where the road of life takes me."

"What were you doing in the desert?"

"Afraid I took a wrong turn on my way to my next destination. Lucky we found you, right?"

Kakashi expertly dodges the more personal questions while giving not-answering answers to the inquisitive farmer. Xi doesn't seem to notice or be bothered by Kakashi's replies. Yet the farmer still doesn't stop asking him questions.

He doesn't miss his own chance to ask questions about where he is. Xi answers that they're in the Earth Kingdom, a while south of Ba Sing Se, which doesn't really tell Kakashi anything. He supposes that Ba Sing Se is the closest village to this small farm.

It's around noon when Shiro stomps out of the barn, hay slowly being munched on. Kakashi waves to the bison, to which the animal responds by settling down by the field, content to watch Kakashi repair the damages made by its landing. There's dirt all over him and his clothes and while it's not desert heat, the farm is located on the edge of the drylands. Kakashi really needs a shower.

Nori comes out to feed them again for lunch. This time bringing some kind of meat stew with another glass of water. She explains that they're in the middle of a drought and that the crops haven't been growing well this season. Kakashi tells her not to worry, that her meat stew is good enough for him. She laughs heartily and returns to the house.

When Xi is leading him towards another part of the field to lift bales of hay on to a cart, Kakashi makes sure the man isn't looking as he makes some quick hand seals. With a low amount of chakra, Kakashi forms a funnel in front of his face with one hand. "_Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu (Water Bullet)_." The usual high-pressured jet of water that could tear down trees becomes a gentle stream that showers the crops with some needed water. A bit of chakra to help these nice people is something that Kakashi thinks is a good exchange.

Shiro's head moves up and watches the stream of water come from Kakashi's hidden mouth. The bison gives a groan and tilts its large head in confusion. When Kakashi's done watering the plants, he finds Shiro watching him curiously. He only raises a finger to his covered lips in response. The bison places its head in its paws but still watches Kakashi closely.

Kakashi follows Xi and starts to help the man roll and lift the large bundles of hay. He's lifting his third roll while Xi is resting, wiping a towel on his face. "You know, for a man who has a whole head of gray hair, you're pretty strong, Kakashi!"

"Haha, thanks," Kakashi laughs, but deep down, he's stewing. Just because he has silver (_silver_, not gray!) hair doesn't mean he's old.

It's around three in the afternoon when they've finished loading up the cart. Nori brings over some kind of large bird with horse-like characteristics to hook up to the front. Kakashi should really expect weird animals by now.

Kakashi bows once more. "I can't thank you both enough for your hospitality."

Xi waves him off while his wife hands Kakashi a bundle of folded clothes. "Please, you've done your part. Even Bing's son doesn't work this hard. Wish you would stick around, would like to have this kind of work done most days."

Nori shoves the package into Kakashi's hands, making sure that he can't deny the gift. "These are some of our son's clothes. He off working as a guard in Ba Sing Se, but they provide him with his needs. The pants might be a bit short, but the rest should fit you just fine. There are a couple of spare crops in there as well."

When Kakashi takes it, Nori leans in to whisper to him. "And I have to thank you for watering the crops as well." He's surprised that she noticed.

Xi looks at her curiously, wondering what the exchange was. Nori places her hand over her nose. "Well, to be honest, Kakashi, do us all a favor and take a bath before you go."

The men blush and the three all have a laugh. They generously lend Kakashi their bath to wash off the grime of the desert and farm. He changes into his new clothes. The shirt is a forest green version of Tenten's outfit, with gold replacing the red highlights. It's fitted for a man, so at least he knows that the couple isn't pranking him by gifting him women's clothes. The pants are similar to his navy cargo pants, baggy and easy to move in. They only reach to his mid-calf.

Kakashi puts on his ninja sandals, spare face mask, and headband. They might make Kakashi stand out in a crowd, but he'll cross that bridge when he gets there. Replacing his kunai pouch against his thigh, he heads out of the house. When he returns to Shiro, Kakashi finds the bison once again snacking on hay. This time he climbs up the side of the bison, not displaying his ninja skills so openly with the farmers. Kakashi waves one last time at the couple. Then the traveling duo is in the sky once more.

There isn't much to do in the sky. Kakashi decides to rest his eyes for a bit. And when he's done with that, he takes in the scenery around him. The desert is still a large part of the ground behind them, but to the north of them is more forest and grassland. To the east is a large body of water and the west has mountains. There aren't many large villages at all. While the major villages in his world are labeled "hidden villages", most weren't all that hidden and would definitely be easy to spot from the sky. Yet, he sees nothing but nature and very small towns.

Shiro lets lose a groan, bringing Kakashi's attention back to the bison. It's getting pretty late, and even with the moon shining above, it's starting to get hard to make out the ground below them. He leans over the front of the saddle. "Going to stop for the night?"

The bison rumbles in agreement and starts to descend closer to the ground. There are trees all around them. Kakashi spots a clearing on top of a cliffside. There's a tall tree that could give them shelter. He points at landing, directing the sky bison down.

There's some kind of stone tunnel that the large tree is growing on top of. It would be a good shelter for the night. Kakashi starts walking inside to peer inside to see if it's empty. Shiro stays outside to munch on some of the grass in front of the entrance.

A screeching squeal sounds from the tunnel followed by some other giant animal charging at Kakashi. It's a wild boar, only it's been enlarged like all the other animals in the world. Its ivory tusks are low to the ground, ready to impale him. He swiftly jumps to the side dodging its charge, but Shiro isn't as fast. The boar plows into Kakashi's travel companion, taking both animals over the edge of the cliff. The two animals roar while they roll down the steep slope.

"Shiro!" Kakashi is quick to follow after the two. He curses himself for his carelessness as he runs down the slope without losing his balance. The animals' rolling draws deep gorges into the ground and bushes.

When they separate, Shiro has thick brown quills puncturing into its fur. The coarse fur of the boar is actually made of giant quills, making it a cross between a wild boar and a porcupine. The two giant animals give their respective war cries and circle around each other.

Kakashi isn't about to let the bison get further injured. He leaps into the air over the spiky animal and throws his shuriken with pinpoint accuracy. They pierce the hard leather of its face, making it shriek in pain. Some overgrown quills that fly in its face deflect his shuriken like steel. Still, it isn't enough to take the boar down.

The moment Kakashi touches the ground between the two animals, the boar throws its head in the air and charges once more. He leads it to one of the tall trees surrounding them. Kakashi easily runs up the trunk without stopping. The giant boar crashes face-first into the bark with enough force to completely destroy the tree. Kakashi hops back to the ground. Shiro stumbles over to him.

The boar leaps over the downed tree and strikes Shiro's unprotected tail. It's sharp teeth tear into the white fur, dyeing it red. The bison cries out in pain, swinging its body with full force to throw the boar off. The animal doesn't release its jaw, making bright red streaks in Shiro's tail.

Even as it lands harshly on its side, the boar gets up once more, pawing at the ground while snarling.

"Damn it," Kakashi growls. He takes a quick glance to see that the flying bison is wavering on its feet, the damage to its tail easily seen in the moonlight. Shiro's in no condition to fight, let alone fly away.

The boar gives a loud squeal and attacks the two. Kakashi makes a split-second decision. The hide is too thick to pierce with a kunai. He has to finish the animal off before its able to get to the injured bison.

The hand seals he knows by heart. Lightning crackles in his palm as he gathers his chakra. The sound of chirping birds fills the air. The boar isn't deterred, still charging straight forward. Kakashi runs to meet it halfway, right arm extended. "_Chidori_!"

His hand easily pierces through the chest of the boar, its thick hide nothing beneath his palm. It releases one last squeal in pain before falling limp. Kakashi pulls out his hand from the charred meat and moves back over to the bison.

The mammal's fur is dirtied brown and red, mused in different directions. The quills are stuck all over Shiro's right side, some puncturing so deep that streams of red leak from them. The largest injury was the tail. The white fur is torn out in chunks, revealing bleeding skin underneath. Kakashi tries to stem the bleeding a little bit but the wound is bigger than both of his hands.

"Shit." Kakashi runs to the front of the bison, its eyes already drooping. "Shiro, c'mon. You need to get into the cave. Who knows what other animals are out here." He doesn't want the bison bleeding out in the open. If there were more predators like the boar, it would mean bad news.

So the two slowly make their way back to the cave. The slope is hard to climb for Shiro, it's steep and slippery, but even act of flapping its tail makes the bison roar in pain. Still, they manage to make it to the tunnel. Kakashi has his hands ready, but no other animal comes from the darkness to attack them. Shiro stumbles past him and collapses onto its stomach, breathing heavily. Kakashi grabs his sack of supplies and takes his out the large blanket he had bought from the merchants. He doesn't have anything to disinfect the wound but at least he can keep it covered from the elements. He tucks the cloth under the tail and grabs one end to wrap it around. Shiro growls in pain.

"Sorry, but I have to wrap this. It's going to hurt," Kakashi warns. There's no answer. He takes that as a go-ahead and tightens the blanket around the tail. Shiro's roar shakes the forest. Kakashi works quickly, wrapping it tightly enough to keep some pressure on the wound and tying the corners of the blanket to each other. The navy blue has already turned a dark purple.

Kakashi curses under his breath as he looks at the poor state of the bison. The next step would be to take care of the quills. But if they're anything like porcupine quills, they won't come out without a lot of discomfort. He checks on the bison, finding that its fallen unconscious. Kakashi can't tell if that's good or bad at this stage. He gets to work on pulling out the giant pins in the bison.

Even when resting, Shiro twitches when Kakashi yanks out the quills one by one. There's a small pile of bloody quills when he's finished removing them. Kakashi keeps watch over the injured bison the whole night. When morning rolls around, the bison still doesn't wake up. He places some of the crops Nori gifted them in front of Shiro's nose, but there's no movement. Kakashi doesn't move from his post nor does he sleep.

It's bad enough that he's failed his family back in Konoha but now he's failed in this world as well.

Days and nights pass without fanfare. Sometimes it rains. Other times it's humid. Shiro doesn't wake at all, but still breaths steadily. Kakashi eats the remaining crops and water until there's none left. Still, he doesn't leave the bison's side. The days blur into each other.

Kakashi only stirs from his listless staring when he hears movement near the cliffside. He jumps to his feet, ready to attack. A girl appears over the edge. Her face is decorated with white and red face paint, looking like an ANBU mask. A golden headpiece keeps her short brown hair from falling into her eyes. She doesn't see him crouching on the dark ceiling of the cave.

The girl gasps seeing the injured bison, whispering to herself. She pulls herself over the cliff with ease, even though she's covered by a green long dress. Kakashi tenses as she wanders closer and closer to the sleeping bison. And when she reaches out to touch his injured traveling companion, Kakashi makes his move.

He stops the chakra flow to his feet and lands soundlessly behind her. He whips out a kunai to hook around her neck. "Step away from the bison."

Instead of freezing like a civilian, the girl springs into action. She grabs a golden stick attached to her left bracer, opening it to reveal a fan. She swiftly maneuvers it to block his kunai from pressing closer to her neck. Sparks fly as the two weapons slide against each other. Kakashi curses himself for underestimating her. The girl twirls out of reach, now standing in a ready pose between him and Shiro.

The girl narrows her eyes at him. "What have you done to Appa?" she asks angrily.

Kakashi moves his kunai to protect his face. "Who's Appa?"

His answer only seems to anger her. She charges at him, swinging the razor edge of her fan at Kakashi. He swiftly dodges underneath, grabbing her outstretched arm in one motion. The girl is good, but not good enough for someone like Kakashi. He twists her arm, making the girl drop the fan, before lifting her off her feet and slamming her to the ground behind him. Kakashi still doesn't let go, twisting her arm behind her back and pressing his knee into her shoulder blade. She struggles for a bit, making Kakashi tug at her arm. She yelps in pain and stops moving.

"Now, explain to me who's Appa and why you think I've done something to him." Kakashi hasn't seen anyone else in the forest.

The girl glares at the ground. "Appa is the bison you've stolen. And when the Avatar finds out that you've taken his bison, he'll come for you."

"Ah." He somewhat forgot that Shiro wasn't the bison's original name. "Sorry to say, but I've been the one taking care of him." _'And doing a pretty shitty job at that.'_Kakashi doesn't add the last part.

"What do you mean?"

"I rescued the bison from some people in the desert trying to sell him off. He's been carrying me around trying to find his owner." Kakashi relaxes his hold on her arm. "If I let you up, can you not attack me?"

The girl thinks about it for a second before nodding. He releases her fully and the two straighten, standing across from each other. He can see her scanning over his body, eyes pausing on his hidden face and silver hair. "Who are you?" she asks, relaxing her stance but still keeps her fan open.

It's good enough for Kakashi, so he places his blade back into its pouch. He returns to his normal relax posture and gives her an eye smile. "Isn't it polite to introduce yourself first?"

She narrows her eyes at him. If glares could hurt, Kakashi would've been in serious pain. "Suki." She glances at the resting bison and her eyes soften. "What happened?"

"Kakashi." He makes a motion to the bison, reminding himself to call him 'Appa'. "We ran into some giant boar when we landed here and had to fight it off. I tried to take care of Appa, but he hasn't woken up since that night."

"That explains the boar-q-pine we found in the forest." If Suki spotted the hole in the boar's chest, she didn't show it. "How bad is he?"

"He had a lot of quills in him, but I've gotten most of them. But his tail is pretty bad. I didn't have anything to put on it other than the cloth."

Suki moves into the cave, heading towards the wrapped tail. She peels back some of the cloth to reveal the raw skin. "He needs ointment to disinfect it. And there are probably smaller quills under his fur that are still stuck in there.

"Do you have it?" Kakashi asks.

"Not at the moment. We have some back at camp. Hopefully, it should be enough to cover his tail." Suki turns back to face Kakashi. "I'll return a bit later with some other Kyoshi Warriors to bring over some supplies. Just stay here."

Kakashi cocks an eyebrow at her command but agrees to it for the time being.

It's late afternoon when she arrives with a large bowl in her hands and other girls dressed in similar garments all holding various medical supplies. Kakashi waves to them from his position leaning against the rock tunnel. Most of the members pause at the sight of him but Suki leads them over.

The Kyoshi Warriors work quickly and efficiently. Some move to dig through Appa's fur to find the short quills that Kakashi had missed and others bring bowls of water to wash the matted fur. The largest group pull back the makeshift bandage and wince at the bleeding wound. Luckily, it doesn't look infected.

Suki stands next to him as they overlook the sleeping bison. "How'd you find him anyways?"

"I was stranded in the desert and found a merchant camp to buy food from. Some bandits came in with Appa dragged along, so I freed him. I was just there at the right moment."

She hugs her arms to her chest. "I just met up with Aang a few days ago. He seemed really upset about losing Appa." Aang must be the Avatar and the bison's owner. Kakashi commits the name to memory. "He was heading to Ba Sing Se, so you could meet up with him there."

Kakashi looks at her from the corner of his eye, surprised. "You'd trust me with the Avatar's bison?"

"I can't abandon the other Kyoshi Warriors." Suki motions to the girls. "And your story checks out with finding Appa in the desert. Also, after seeing that boar-q-pine, I think you can protect him pretty well." So she did see the killing strike that Kakashi dealt.

Suki waits for an explanation, but Kakashi doesn't give it to her.

Back at Wan Shi Tong's library, Kakashi had read all about the benders, hoping that it was just a codeword for shinobi. He was wrong. Benders can only control one element unless they were the all-important Avatar, master of all four elements. It's so unlike shinobi, which the truly skilled can learn two or three of the five elements. Kakashi had at least one jutsu in each element.

He decides to keep his ninjutsu to a minimum around others, if anything, sticking to one element. Best they don't confuse him for the Avatar.

Still, apparently lightning is a form of firebending, which isn't all that welcome in the Earth Kingdom. So, Kakashi keeps his mouth shut about how he killed the boar.

Before Suki actually asks him directly, the Kyoshi Warriors let out some yells. The two turn back to see Appa stirring, moving erratically in the tight tunnel.

"Girls, get out of there!" Suki calls to them. She doesn't want them getting crushed between the wall and Appa's body. They immediately come running out while Suki and Kakashi approach.

"Appa, please! We're trying to help you!" Her begging doesn't do anything to stop the bison from rubbing against the stone walls.

"Excuse me." Kakashi snatches an apple from one of the girls. "Oi!" he shouts to the bison, loud enough that Appa should hear him over the bison's own groaning. There's a brief pause and Kakashi takes the opening. He launches the apple straight at Appa's face, making the girls yell at his aggressive action.

The apple bounces off the large nose and gets the effect that Kakashi wants. The bison blinks in shock, not expecting the fruit to hit his face. Kakashi grins under his mask as Appa focuses on the apple that dropped on the ground. He approaches the bison, now munching on the apple. Kakashi puts a hand out that Appa meets with his nose. "Glad to have you back."

Appa licks Kakashi with his giant tongue in agreement.

"Great…" He wipes the slobber off his face mask. "Apparently, you've met them before." He points his thumb behind him at the Kyoshi Warriors, who seemed stunned at the one-sided conversation.

Suki snaps out of it first and steps forward. "Appa, we're here to help. We want to put some salve and bandages on your tail and finish cleaning you up."

Appa tilts his head before exiting the tunnel, allowing the girls to surround him. They continue to pamper the bison back to nearly perfect condition.

Kakashi helps wrap a large ribbon of cloth around the bison's tail after they finish putting ointment on it.

"The salve should prevent infection and keep the injury numb, so it doesn't irritate Appa when he flies." Suki rubs a hand into Appa's soft fur, getting a wet lick in return. In fact, the bison had done that to all of the Kyoshi Warriors who took care of him.

"Thanks, I really appreciate it. I bet the Avatar will as well," Kakashi replies.

Suki's eyebrows furrow in worry. "When you find Aang, you have to be careful, Kakashi. He'll think that you took Appa from him and attack you."

"Ma, ma, don't worry about little old me." He waves her concern away. "I can handle myself just fine."

As if the world wants to test him, Kakashi hears the roar of fire before he sees it. "Get down!" he shouts at the Warriors as he tackles Suki to the ground. A wave of brilliant blue hits the trees behind them. Appa roars in panic. The flames cut through one of the trees, cutting off their quick escape route. The Kyoshi Warriors create a defensive line in front of the air bison. Kakashi and Suki stand at the front.

Kakashi turns to their attackers to find three girls riding on top of giant lizards. They're all dressed in red, marking them as Fire Nation. The girl in the middle holds a patch of Appa's white fur in her hand. The way that she looks marks her as the leader of the group. Kakashi can tell she's the most dangerous of the group.

The middle one taunts them. "My, my, you're easy to find. It's really astounding that my brother hasn't captured you yet."

She whips out her fan as well as a seamless shield that springs from her hand. The others do the same. Kakashi grabs a kunai from his pouch. Suki speaks from behind her shield. "What do you want with us?"

"Who are you? The Avatar's fangirls?" Her amber eyes flicker to Kakashi, the odd one out in the group.

The girl with a long, braided ponytail on the left lets out a short laugh after a moment. "Oh, I get it. Good one, Azula!"

Kakashi stands in a seemingly relaxed pose, slightly slouching yet still perfectly balanced. "Ah, that was a good one. I'm afraid the Avatar isn't here though."

The girl on the right sighs into her palm, a bored expression on her face. "I knew this was a waste of time."

"No Avatar, huh?" Azula shrugs her shoulders. "That's alright. Any friend of the Avatar is an enemy of _mine_!" With that, she leaps off her lizard, spinning before firing a stream of blue fire at the group.

Kakashi dodges out of the way, but the Kyoshi Warriors stand their ground in front of Appa. They use their shields to protect the bison.

The other girls join the fight, the one who laughed at the bad joke cartwheeling towards Kakashi. She does some short jabs at him, all of which he dodges by slightly leaning away. He narrows his eye when he realizes where's she's aiming at. _'She's trying to hit my tenketsu, like a Hyūga without a Byakugan.'_It's pretty impressive.

She obviously doesn't expect someone who's able to avoid all of her jabs, a look of concentration appearing on his face. Her tongue even sticks out of her mouth. While the girl's not bad at taijutsu, Kakashi regularly competes with Gai, an entirely different level. He spots the other girl holding throwing knives in her palm. She throws them at one of the Kyoshi, who isn't prepared to dodge or block. While Kakashi is still dodging his own opponent's fists, he grabs several shuriken and launches them at the same time as the girl throws her knives. The metal clangs against each other in mid-air. Some of the girls paused, astonished at such a feat. The girl who threw the knives glances back at him before launching some hidden arrows from her sleeve. The two Kyoshi Warriors block with their shields and they resume their fight.

"Wow! That was crazy! You block all of Mai's knives." The girl starts talking to him as she follows his steps backward, keeping the distance tight. "My name's Ty Lee. What's yours?"

Kakashi decides to humor her. He gives her an eye-smile as he grabs her fist. "It's Kakashi. Nice to meet you, Ty Lee." And with that, tosses her away over his back.

Ty Lee easily lands on her hands and backflips back to her feet, jabbing at a girl that steps too close. The Kyoshi Warrior goes limp, falling to the ground without control of her muscles. He spots some other girls pinned to trees, unable to get free. Their numbers are dwindling. Kakashi spots Suki struggling to block the blue fire from hitting Appa. He makes his way towards them.

The girl named Mai flings some more knives at him, which Kakashi swiftly rolls under. Ty Lee stands ready to stop him, but he doesn't have time to dance again. Kakashi moves around her first jab. "Sorry, afraid I'll have to play with you another time," he apologizes before taking her down with a chop to the neck.

As Kakashi approaches, Azula sweeps a leg towards him, firing blue flames. He jumps over it, undeterred. Kakashi tries to close the distance to take her out, but Azula sees through his plan and keeps distance while shooting her fire. Kakashi maneuvers himself so that he's beside Suki and in front of Appa.

"You need to get out of here with Appa," she says while using her shield to push away blue flames.

"Not yet." Kakashi throws another shuriken which Azula dodges. She responds with a stream of fire. He moves under it, but it sets the downed tree on fire. Appa panics at the appearance of the blaze. Those pinned to trees ripping themselves free and carrying their limp teammates. They gather around Kakashi and Suki.

"You've fought well. Maybe your heads will make a good present for my father." Azula gathers a ball of fire in her hand and lashes it out. It expands into a giant wave of flames speeding towards them.

Kakashi doesn't hesitate, quickly deciding which water jutsu would do best. "Get behind me!" he commands the Kyoshi Warriors while his hands blur together. He places a hand in front of his mask. "_Suiton: Suijinheki (Water Formation Wall)_!"

A stream of water fires out of his cupped hand aimed at the ground. It suddenly expands into a wall of water, like a wave frozen in time. The blue fire crashes against it, creating steam. Kakashi doesn't pause, unlike the rest of the fighters, who stare at the sudden creation of water with amazement and disbelief.

He fires a kunai at Azula, who catches herself at the last moment and dodges. Still, a thin line of crimson appears on her face. She dabs a hand against the wound and looks at the blood. A sudden rage overtakes her face. "How dare you?!" Before, her attacks were made with lethal precision. Now, the girl sends wave after wave of flames, all extinguished by the wall of water. Some are shot so wide that it catches on the trees around them, trapping them in a burning arena.

Appa roars in fear at the flames surrounding them. Suki turns to Kakashi, who's still powering the wall from the stream of water coming from his mouth. "You need to go! Now!"

The sky bison can't carry all of them out of the forest fire and the blaze would swallow the Kyoshi Warriors whole. Kakashi gives an eye-smile at Suki, cutting of his jutsu and allowing the water wall to come down. He starts another series of hand seals, double-checking his chakra reserves. Azula sees her opening and fires another large blast of azure flames.

At the moment before the flames reach them, Kakashi turns to Suki. "I don't abandon my comrades." He brings a closed fist to his hidden mouth once more. "_Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu (Great Waterfall)_!"

A thin circle of water appears before him. It speeds up and expands, swirling faster and faster with more and more water. A giant water vortex uproots the trees around them. Twisting with enough force of a crashing waterfall, it douses the flames. The Fire Nation girls don't stand a chance, screaming as they're swept away in the attack.

Kakashi stops the jutsu when the red-clad girls flushed are out of sight. He turns to the girls, finding them giving him awed looks.

"You never said you were a master waterbender!" one of them shouts.

Kakashi rubs the back of his hair, musing his silver strands. "Well… you never asked."

At that, the girls seemed to face-fault but quickly recovered. "They won't stop hunting you and Appa now," Suki explains solemnly.

"That's my choice," he responds. He climbs up Appa's side into the saddle. "We'll lead them away from you. That way you can escape."

"No!" she exclaims, running to the bison's side. "Aang needs Appa now more than ever. You have to get to him safely." Suki peers at the white coat before grabbing a fistful. She carefully removes her hand, only taking a clump of shed fur. "We'll lead them away with this. You have to get going."

The other Kyoshi Warriors nod, also taking the loose fur from Appa. Kakashi admires their bravery. They remind him of the kunoichi of Konoha. "Fine, good luck and stay safe."

"You too." Suki then turns to place a hand on Appa's nose. "You'll find Aang, I promise. Get going, yip yip."

Kakashi is about to ask what that means, but Appa immediately kicks off into the night sky.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

_A/N: I kinda struggled with this chapter since it's the last part of Appa's lost days. Getting to the Gaang soon I promise! Would you guys want to see some other character's POV or something? Let me know!_

_**Important**: I'll finally have an update schedule instead of spitting them out. Each chapter will come either weekly or bi-weekly on Friday's or Saturday's (depending on when I get it done/my need to have things posted immediately lol). If you want updates on my life or sneak peeks or even some art I do, check me out on Tumblr under the same name!_

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The scenery passes by below them, lit by the moon above. Kakashi wonders where the bison is flying to now. They pass over a great body of water, boats floating on its surface. Appa only drops suddenly a couple times, roaring as his tail seizes. That had given Kakashi a good scare each time. He pats the bison on the side, telling him to stop and rest. Yet, the bison obviously has a destination in mind and doesn't stop his flight. Appa is as stubborn as Kakashi.

Kakashi sighs and decides to try and take Appa's mind off the pain of his tail. He starts to tell the bison about his village, sharing stories of his team, old and new. He divulges the story of his sensei, sacrificing himself for the sake of the village and damning his son to the duty of jinchūriki. Even going on to tell the adventures he and his students had back when they were a full team. Rain makes his hair stick to his forehead, but he forges on, talking about how strong his little genin have become. Kakashi keeps speaking until his voice grows hoarse. Appa is silent the whole time, yet Kakashi can tell the flying bison is listening to his stories. Kakashi isn't sure how.

They fly into a mountainous region, with stone mountains towering above the ocean below. Flying higher and higher until they're above the clouds, Kakashi finally sees buildings decorating the three highest mountain tops. It reminds Kakashi of Kumogakure.

Appa lands harshly on a flat stone platform. He quickly jumps off the bison, moving to check on the wound. However, Appa starts to move deeper into the temple without waiting for Kakashi. He follows the bison move through broken stone pillars and an old feeding area. The place is obviously abandoned. Maybe abandoned isn't the right word, Kakashi thinks as he sees some skeletons scattered throughout the temple.

The place mirrors the ruins of Uzushiogakure. It reminds him that this world is in the middle of a war. The destruction of a home seems to be universal in warfare. He can only hope that Konoha doesn't end up like this.

Kakashi is led through the maze of the temples. The whole place is covered in mist from the high elevation. The bridges around him don't have handrails, allowing Kakashi to peer over the edge into the clouds below. Some of them aren't stable enough to cross. Kakashi doesn't want to fall from this height. It's when they're crossing over one of the stone bridges to another mountain does Appa finally makes a sound. The bison excitedly speeds forward. "Hey!" Kakashi calls after him, jogging to keep up. Appa tackles a man sitting in a meditating position to the ground, licking him. Kakashi thinks that this old man is Appa's owner.

That is until Appa stops licking him, seemingly shocked that this stranger isn't who the bison thinks he is. The bison flies back to Kakashi, growling at the man who sits up.

The stranger is an old, bald man with a long, scruffy, white beard. He's thin, seemingly just tanned skin and bones, and wears a yellow robe. He spots Kakashi standing by the angry bison, bushy brows rising in surprise. "Hello," he greets. "I am Guru Pathik."

Kakashi puts a hand on the bison, stopping Appa from attacking the man. "Yo, name's Kakashi and this is Appa. I'm guessing you aren't the guy we're looking for, huh?"

"I'm afraid not," he says while wringing out his beard of the bison's spit. "I've been expecting the bison for quite some time, but not without his Avatar." The guru gives Kakashi a questioning stare. "And definitely not with you."

Kakashi crosses his arms. "That makes two of us. Did the Avatar send you a message to expect his arrival?" Maybe he could come pick up his bison.

Pathik just shakes his head. "No, I had a vision many years ago of helping him. That's why I came to the Eastern Air Temple."

"And I guess I wasn't in that vision of yours?"

Instead of answering, the guru smoothly rolls backward to his feet. He approaches the two but stops when Appa starts growling once more. Pathik raises his hands in peace, so Kakashi puts his hand in front of Appa to stop the bison once more. He steps forward to meet the guru. Pathik motions to Kakashi. "May I?"

Kakashi lifts a brow. "Do what exactly?"

"I am able to read spiritual energy, and it may help you and I make sense of your role here."

He thinks about it for a moment before nodding. The guru doesn't seem to be a violent type anyways.

The old man closes his eyes and brings two fingers to Kakashi's forehead, not quite touching his headband, and drags them down to his heart. He tenses for a moment at the vulnerable position and only relaxes when the guru's hand travels down towards his sternum. Kakashi doesn't feel anything happening.

"I see…" Pathik says as he draws his hand away, returning it to stroke his beard. "You've been through so much, so strong yet so brittle. A very tough life of pain and loss. You're very protective of your own, aren't you?" The guru opens his eyes to look at Kakashi closely. "How did you come to be here; I wonder? You are not supposed to be here, yet you are. Interesting."

"If I knew the answer to that, I'd be back home right now."

"No, no. You are meant to be here, but not here." Kakashi can't decipher the guru's cryptic speaking. The guru can tell, reading the quarter of his bare face. He continues, "You are meant to be helping the Avatar with his travels. I suppose it is because the bison's energy is so similar to the Avatar's. After all, their energies are deeply entwined."

"You mean I was bought to help save this world?" Kakashi momentarily loses his cool and grabs a fistful of the guru's robes, bringing him close to Kakashi's face. His black eye is bright with anger. "You tore me away from my village to solve your own problems. I have my own fight to deal with."

The guru is still relaxed in Kakashi's hold, actually looking sympathetic to his plight. "I am sorry, but I am not to blame, only the messenger."

"Then who did you receive the message from?" Because if Kakashi ever met whoever took him away from his village, he would kill them, spirit or not.

"The energy of the spirit world swirls around you, mingling with the foreign energy of your world. Perhaps it was the work of both of our worlds moving as one to bring you here. Perhaps, it was to save you."

Kakashi's mind flashes back to the moment that he died, out of chakra and out of time. He releases the guru, who merely straightens out his clothes. Kakashi runs a hand through his silver strands. "Shit…"

"Perhaps it would be best if the two of you rest here for a couple of days," Pathik gently suggests. "especially with that wound." He makes a motion towards Appa's tail.

Kakashi wants to get away from this old man as soon as possible but can't find any flaws in the guru's plan.

The guru takes Kakashi's silence as a yes. "I'm afraid there aren't many beds left in good condition. If you find one, you are welcome to take it."

"Thanks, but I'll be fine."

Appa is already moving back into the temple, so Kakashi bids goodnight to the guru and follows after the bison.

They make it to an old stable. It's in clear disrepair but Appa still circles around and lays down on a small pile of dead hay. Kakashi places a hand on a broken pillar and peers into one of the smaller stalls. It's still pretty big compared to a horse's, but smaller than Appa's full size. He turns to the bison who's peering at him with curious large eyes. "So, I'm guessing this is your old home?" Kakashi asks as he walks over.

The bison rumbles, resting his head in the large paws.

Kakashi sits against the fuzzy side of Appa, silver hair mingling with white fur. "Must've been quite a place back in its prime."

Appa yawns in agreement.

"You know, I think you would've been great friends with Pakkun. Maybe one day I'll be able to introduce him to you." Kakashi's dreams are filled with pugs and miniature flying bison.

Kakashi makes sure to clean Appa's wound every couple of hours over the days that they spend at the temple. The bison's tail looks better and better each day until the only evidence of the bite mark is the difference of fur length. Kakashi is sure the wound is scarred underneath the thick hairs. The guru visits them every so often to give some supplies and fruits (Kakashi only falls for the horrible banana and onion concoction once). Once Kakashi feels that Appa's done reminiscing about his home, he finds the guru on another mountain top, a winding stone path winding around the slope. Pathik sits cross-legged, birds and woodland creatures perched all over him.

"Finally ready to leave, are you?" Pathik asks as he takes a sip from his bowl.

Kakashi tucks his hands into his borrowed pants' pockets, resuming his usually slouched position. "Think so. As much as it was nice to meet you, I think it's about time we get going."

"Before you go," the guru hands Kakashi a tied roll of parchment. "I have prepared a message for Aang. I can trust that you'll deliver it to him, yes?"

"Sure." Kakashi takes the scroll. "But how will I find where the Avatar is?"

Pathik motions to the bison, still lounging behind them eating the melons. "Appa's and the Avatar's energies are mixed. They have an unbreakable bond. It's quite remarkable," the guru chuckles.

Appa yawns in response but is attentive. Anything to bring him home.

The guru approaches the bison's forehead, waving two extended fingers across the giant arrow marking. "By reading his energy, I can sense where Aang is." At the good news, Appa licks the old man, making him laugh. "Funny what invisible strings connect us all."

Kakashi watches curiously, wondering if the guru is using an ability to chakra sensing. "And where exactly do my strings lead?"

Pathik smiles softly at him. "They fade off over the horizon, never arriving at any destination, but never disappearing. They are thick cords, braiding into an unbreakable rope. I believe that is what will lead you back to your home once this world is finished with you." And doesn't that sound ominous. "But there is a small thread that also follows Appa's energy, following after Aang."

"So, that's what I have to do, help the Avatar end the war?"

"I cannot tell you your destiny here, Kakashi. I believe you will be the one to forge it."

"Well, I might as well 'forge' towards finding this Avatar," Kakashi shrugs.

The guru nods and turns toward the resting bison. Pathik places a hand on the center of Appa's head, both closing their eyes as leaves gently fall around them. Kakashi blinks at the serenity of the scene before him. They stay like that for a few moments. He still can't tell what Pathik is doing to read Appa's energy.

When Pathik removes his hand, Appa is already flapping his tail, impatient to get in the air. "I believe that is your queue to get on," Pathik says to Kakashi. "You will find Aang within Ba Sing Se."

The name rings a bell in Kakashi's mind. The place was just north of the farm that he and Appa had stopped at according to Xi the farmer. He almost wants to slap his forehead at the roundabout directions. Kakashi jumps onto the bison's back with a flip, landing gracefully on the saddle. He turns back to face the guru. "Thanks for the help," he nods.

"I will see Appa again soon. As for you, Kakashi, I wish you luck handling the Avatar."

"How bad can he be? Isn't he over a hundred years old?"

Pathik only smiles and waves goodbye. Kakashi shrugs and settles down on the saddle. "Yip yip, Appa." And the bison immediately launches into the sky, flying faster than ever before.

Kakashi passes the time by rereading his favorite orange-cover novel. Appa is clearly focused on getting to Aang as fast as possible. They fly back west but move farther north. Kakashi can already see the tall stone walls they're heading toward. When they pass over the first wall, Kakashi finally sees the scale of Ba Sing Se as he spots the large agricultural fields. It's probably bigger than Konoha and Sunna combined. Stone pathways are leading through the walls, one of the few entrances into the city. Appa continues to fly into the city, flying over the second wall. The next section of the city is densely populated, small houses. The buildings are run-downed, with few lights lining the crowded roads.

Appa continues to fly farther into the city, crossing into the next residential section. This area is much nicer than the first, torches lighting up the cleaner houses. Most have steepled, green-tiled roofs lined with gold color. With the protective walls and style of architecture, Kakashi is starkly reminded of his home. Kakashi sees a stable with a large enough area that Appa can land on. The bison sees it too, sweeping down to land on the ground below.

Kakashi hops off and observes the strange sleeping animals around him. He could probably convince the stable's owner to let him and Appa stay while finding the Avatar in the large city. "Stay here," he motions to the flying bison.

Appa huffs but plops down onto his stomach.

He walks into the building, still lit with candles. A counter and a bell, but no person. He hits the bell and leans against the counter, waiting for the night-attendant to return to the front desk.

Before the curtain behind the desk parts, Kakashi can hear movement back outside. The animals are awake, creating a ruckus. Appa is still out there, making Kakashi rush back out to check on the bison. Kakashi is gone before the attendant can get a glimpse of him.

The bison isn't where Kakashi left him. He looks up to see Appa flying away over the houses. Kakashi curses and runs after the runaway bison. He hops onto the rooftops, keeping the white spot in the sky in sight by jumping from roof to roof. There's no evidence of his presence on the tiles.

Two figures spring out of the alleyway and onto the roof in Kakashi's path. They're dressed in dark robes with green and gold detailing. Long sleeves with gold lining hide their hands, making Kakashi wary. Still, he has to follow after the bison no matter what, so he jumps over the two.

Or he would've if two pairs of stone hands hadn't launch towards him. Kakashi quickly dodges out of the way, bouncing off of a tower's wall next to him. The rock hands create indents in the stone wall, showing their intent isn't friendly.

Appa is already getting farther and farther away. Kakashi fires two shuriken at his attackers, but they easily move the green tiles below their feet to block. He adjusts his direction, trying to move around them to head in the bison's direction. He sees Appa duck back close to the ground, the surrounding buildings obscuring Kakashi's view.

Another pair of hands fire out of the darkness while Kakashi jumps between buildings. His eye widens in surprise as he attempts to adjust his course. Still, one of the hands clips his foot, knocking Kakashi off balance as he lands. As he rolls to his feet, three people surround him on the rooftop, all dressed in the same outfit.

"Surrender yourself," one states. There are no inflections in his voice.

"Ah, sorry, no can do." Kakashi looks at his surrounds. The three are standing in front of him, all ready to attack. Kakashi stands on the edge of the roof, alleyway behind him. "See I have to get that bison back to the Avatar. Help end the war and all that."

"There is no war in Ba Sing Se," they all say simultaneously.

Kakashi narrows his eyes at the three. He inches backward as they crowd around him, hands ready to launch the stone gloves surrounding their hands. "My bad then, I'll let myself out then."

He falls backward, rock hands brushing passed his nose. Kakashi lands on his feet, kicking up a large cloud of dust around him. He runs through the cloud, dashing off in a random direction, and his attackers aren't far behind. They run past a nondescript barrel as they round the corner after him.

A puff of smoke and Kakashi is in place of the barrel. The shadow clone will poof away sooner or later, so he starts to move. He makes sure his hair is tucked under the rice hat this time. His headband is safely stored away. All he has left is to replace his infamous face mask. Kakashi makes sure that the road is clear before stepping out of the alley but still keeps to the shadows of the buildings, moving where the bison had landed.

Appa is gone and all that's left is a giant footprint. Even with his superior nose, Kakashi doesn't catch the bison's scent.

He's stuck here without Appa, no Avatar in sight. He wants to scream into the night sky, but barely refrains. As Kakashi passes by a tailor shop, his eyes catch a thick, emerald scarf in the window.

When the tailor returns in the morning, he scratches his head at the empty window mannequin and the gold coin on the counter.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

_A/N: Finally, Kakashi meets some familiar faces. So I decided to try out a different POV at the end. Def a bit out of my comfort zone, but, hey, gotta practice those things somehow. Not that much happening in this chapter but we're getting to the end of Season 2 so things will be amping up soon!_

* * *

Kakashi steps back onto the street with a full stomach. While it isn't salt-broiled saury and miso soup with eggplant, the place has pretty good beef noodles. The pouch that he won off of the con artist is noticeably lighter.

Kakashi treks back to the inn he's been staying at, face hidden behind his orange book. The innkeeper there allows Kakashi to stay in exchange for small errands like gathering supplies and taking care of the ride animals of the guests staying there. It's a small price to pay for shelter. During the days searching for Appa, Kakashi makes idle conversation with the Middle Ring citizens. Even with Kakashi dropping hints right in front of their noses, the people don't seem to realize that a war has been going on for a hundred years outside of their walls. He starts to realize what kind of bastardized utopia he's stuck in. The protective walls begin to seem more like prison bars.

He learns that he needs a passport to cross between the Rings of Ba Sing Se by riding on the earthbending-propelled trains that run on the long stone pathways. Kakashi can't seem to find a good forger in the Middle Ring.

As Kakashi thinks of a plan to get in contact with the Avatar, a shout brings his attention away. Three men are running down the street towards Kakashi, a box of coins in the middle one's hands.

"Someone, please! Stop them! Thieves!" A voice cries behind them. Another group of three are chasing after them with no success. The man in the center keeps tripping on his long, elegant robe and his attendants are no better.

Kakashi has his face hidden behind the small novel, but his leg sticks out at the perfect time. The three robbers go flying in the air, tumbling down the road. The middle one instinctually throws the box into the air to catch himself. The chest neatly lands in Kakashi's outstretched palm, his other hand still holding the flyer in front of him.

"Hey! Give that back!" one of the thieves shouts at Kakashi.

He doesn't react. It's only after a moment does Kakashi lower the book into his pocket and glances at the three. "Hm, did you say something?"

They growl but get up to run when the three noblemen arrive behind Kakashi. "Someone, please! Call the Dai Li!" one of the attendants wheezes.

At that, the robbers turn pale and move to leave the streets, but two dark-robed figures spring from the earth below and easily secure them in rocks.

As one of the Dai Li agents turns to face him, Kakashi makes sure the rice hat blocks his face and hair from view. "Thanks for the help," he says.

Kakashi only nods in response.

The other agent taps his partner on his shoulder, whispering something in his ear. They narrow their eyes at Kakashi, moving to take a closer look at him.

Before Kakashi can make a quick getaway, the nobleman shakes his empty hand. "Oh, thank you! I am in your debt, kind stranger." He waves the two secret policemen off. "Dai Li, I can take it from here."

They glance at each other, then at Kakashi, and then at the surrounding crowd, before grabbing the three thugs and sinking into the ground once more. Kakashi is allowed to refocus on the man in front of him, still speaking uninterrupted. "—foolish of me to carry such a sum, I know. What's your name, young man?"

"Kakashi."

"Well, Kakashi, I have a business proposition for you if you're interested. My name is Quon." He waits for Kakashi's reaction but deflates when he gets none. "You see, I'm on my way to recruit the best teamaker in all of Ba Sing Se to open up shop in the Upper Ring. And as much as I trust the Dai Li, I think having a personal peacemaker will make the atmosphere there more… peaceful!"

"You want me to bodyguard your new teashop?"

"Yes, exactly!"

Kakashi makes a face like he's contemplating it but already knows he'll say yes. It's an easy way into the Upper Ring where he can meet the Avatar. The only problem is… "What if I've lost my passport?"

Quon waves away Kakashi's concern. "I'll vouch for you and pay for your ticket. The guardsmen won't bother you. In fact, we'll be going to the Lower Ring first to meet this teamaker and really see if he's up to snuff."

Well, that was that. He hadn't left anything in the inn, still having everything on his body in that sack of his. Kakashi really didn't want to go to the Lower Ring and waste time, but if it eventually got him to his destination, he could be patient. "I'm ready to go when you are."

The nobleman easily gets Kakashi onto the man-powered monorail to the Lower Ring even though the guardsman regards him with suspicion. The train cart is crowded, filled to the brim with people of all different classes, judging by their clothes. In such a large city, Kakashi isn't surprised to see such a disparity of wealth. He readily gives up his seat when an old man with a cane walks onto the train at the station, getting a nod in thanks.

While they travel through the Lower Ring, Kakashi observes his surroundings. Instead of the clean white stone that makes up the walls of buildings in the Middle Ring, bricks and dirt build the shacks around him. The people meander from place to place, faces downcast and filled with worry.

Quon and his assistants quickly move to a small building smushed between two taller ones at the end of a street. The only things that makes the short house stand out from the other rundown structures are the two green lanterns and the sign above the door that reads "Pao Family Tea House". Kakashi trails behind the men, allowing them to step into the tea shop first.

As he's about to pass the door, a small piece of paper flutters to the ground in front of Kakashi. As he reaches down to pick it up, more flyers land on the streets catching the citizens' attention. He spots the detailed picture of Appa and reads through it. It seems that the Avatar is in the city looking for his bison. Kakashi reads through the text: a description of Appa and the reward for returning him. Kakashi silently curses when the flyer says to find the Avatar in the Upper Ring or contact a Dai Li agent.

After his encounter with them on his first day here, Kakashi wants nothing to do with them. He's kept himself out of sight well enough.

He stuffs the flyer into his pocket and moves inside. The tea house is quaint, with simple wooden tables and benches with few art pieces lining the walls. Kakashi sits next to Quon while the two attendants sit across from them.

A young man comes over, notepad and apron marking him as a worker here. "May I take your order?" he grits. Kakashi looks up to face the teen. His pale skin is marred by a large burn scar over his left eye. The teen stares back, amber eyes flicking towards Kakashi's own scarred eye. He eye-smiles in response.

"A pot of whatever tea you recommend, my boy," Quon answers enthusiastically.

The teen barely refrains from rolling his eyes but moves back towards the counter. A portly old man attends to the pots around him. "Uncle, a pot of jasmine tea for table seven!" He then attends to cleaning up one of the other tables.

"Of course, nephew," the uncle replies. He grabs one of the ready-made pots from the stove and moves toward their table. Kakashi watches the careful steps of the old man, each one marking him as an old fighter. The tea maker pours the pot carefully into each of their simple porcelain cups, gentle steam rising from the brew. Kakashi nods his head in thanks, to which the old man smiles kindly.

The others take a sip from their cups, allowing Kakashi to drink his tea without allowing any curious glances to see his face. The tea is nice, full of flavor and scent. The others nod to each other and stand up to recruit the old man after just one mouthful. While Quon poaches the old tea maker from Pao to bring to the Upper Ring, Kakashi calmly finishing his cup of jasmine.

After the old man hands over the pot back to the teahouse's owner and accepts Quon's offer, the nobleman waves Kakashi over to join them. He sighs, bringing his cup with him as he joins the conversation. Quon slings an arm over Kakashi's shoulders. "This here is Kakashi, a man who saved my coins today. I heard about some incidents with troublemakers and I won't have my teamaker unprotected, so I've hired him to protect you from here on out. I hope you don't mind the extra company while you pack your things."

The old man smiles kindly, but Kakashi notices it doesn't reach his eyes. "Thank you for your consideration. We won't mind Kakashi's company at all. My name is Mushi."

Kakashi nods his head at the man's generosity. "I'll be sure to stay out of your way."

As the teenager passes by with a tray of cups, the tea maker turns to share the good news. "Did you hear, Lee, this man wants to give us our own tea shop in the Upper Ring of the city!"

"That's right, young man, your life is about to change for the better," Quon can't help but add.

"I'll try to contain my joy." In an obviously (not) expression of happiness, Lee slams the tray on one of the tables and steps out of the shop.

There's a brief moment of silence before Lee's uncle turns to them. "Please excuse my nephew, he's had a hard time adjusting to life in Ba Sing Se."

"No worries, he'll have an easier time in the Upper Ring," Quon pats Mushi's shoulder. One of the attendants leans in and whispers into the nobleman's ear. "I'm afraid I must take my leave. I'll be back in a few days to bring you all to the Upper Ring when the shop and apartment are ready." And with that, the three were already out the door back to their comfort zone.

Kakashi notices that Lee doesn't come back into the tea shop, leaving his uncle and the downtrodden shop owner to serve the tables. It's starting to get busy in the tea house and Kakashi has nothing to do in the meantime until he can access the Upper Ring to help the Avatar find his bison.

"Mind if I help?" he asks Mushi as the man pours tea for a table of young ladies.

"Thank you! It would be a great help if you could grab an apron from the back and take care of the orders and the cups." The old man passes the tray of dirty cups to him. "We have a small spare room in our apartment that you could stay in."

He nods, bringing the cups to the sink in the back and snatching one of the green aprons to drape over his clothes. The teahouse just gets busier as time passes noon. Kakashi spots customers from all different classes stop in. Maybe Quon was telling the truth that Mushi's tea was really making the rounds in Ba Sing Se.

Kakashi never figured that he would ever be a waiter in his lifetime.

* * *

Zuko doesn't realize the day has gone by during his brooding session on the random rooftop. As he makes his way back to their shoddy apartment, the banished prince can't help but wonder if this was going to be the rest of his life: serving tea to Earth Kingdom citizens and never firebending again. His hand unconsciously touches his chest where he hid the flyer. If Zuko could find the bison, he would find the Avatar. His place as Prince of the Fire Nation would be restored.

He scowls going up the rickety stairs, as they creak and groan with abuse. Some prince he was.

As Zuko reaches the entrance to his and his uncle's apartment, he can hear a muffled conversation through the thin sliding door. His scowl grows farther, stretching his scar uncomfortably. He opens it to reveal his uncle speaking with a stranger in the main room over tea. His uncle is sitting primly, legs tucked beneath him as he sips his tea with both hands. The stranger's position is the opposite, one leg stretched out and the other bent to let his arm holding the teacup rest. An Earth Kingdom peasant.

It's the same man that Zuko had seen with the noblemen, the one with a scar over his left eye. It's long and deep, most likely caused by a sword and took the eye underneath with it. He still hasn't taken off his rice hat and scarf.

"Ah, my nephew has finally returned! We were just talking about you, Lee," his uncle greets jovially, like he's actually comfortable letting a person into the only place they can safely firebend.

The other man raises his cup in greeting. "Yo, I'm Kakashi, nice to meet you. Apparently, you were a pretty cute baby."

Zuko almost slaps his forehead at his uncle's storytelling. Instead, he snarls, "I need to talk to my uncle. Alone."

The two older men glance at each other, making a silent conversation with just their looks. The peasant just downs his tea, placing his cup onto the table before standing up to stretch. "Well, I'll just go to rest up then if you don't mind. It's been a long day. I'll be in the next room if you need me." And the man disappears into their spare bedroom. Zuko doesn't look forward to sleeping in the same room as his snoring uncle.

"Who is he?" he finally lets out. He speaks quietly, wary of the thin walls.

"That is Kakashi. Quon has hired him as our bodyguard to make sure that no one tries to bother us."

"We don't need him!"

"Quon doesn't know that," his uncle answers calmly. "His job is to stay with us."

That just rises Zuko up further. He harshly whispers back, "Don't you think that man is suspicious? What if he finds out our real identities or that we're firebenders?"

His uncle simply closes his eyes and sips his tea. "I feel that Kakashi is definitely more than he lets on, but I don't believe he means us any harm. The man also has secrets." Then he opens his eyes to pin a stare onto Zuko. "Where were you?"

Zuko waits for a moment before revealing the flyer. "The Avatar is here in Ba Sing Se and he's lost his bison." He moves over to stare out the window.

Uncle Iroh takes the poster from his hand and scans over it. "We have a chance for a new life here. If you start stirring up trouble, we could lose all the good things that are happening for us."

Zuko can't take it anymore and whips back around to shout. "Good things that are happening for you! Have you ever thought that I want more from life than a nice apartment and a job serving tea?"

Iroh also starts to speak up, still seated at the tea table. "There is nothing wrong with a life of peace and prosperity. I suggest you think about what it is that you want from your life and why."

Zuko crosses the room back to the doorway. "I want my destiny." He doesn't turn around to look at his uncle.

"What that means is up to—" his uncle is cut off by the spare room's door opening.

The peasant, Kakashi, sticks his head into the room. His rice hat is finally off, revealing wild gray hair that defies gravity. Zuko and his uncle stare at the unusual color on such a young man. Kakashi's black eye doesn't reveal if he's interested in their current conversation. His expression is blank. "Yo, is there any water I can use here?" he asks while scratching the back of his head.

Zuko huffs and grabs the empty bucket by the door along with a heavy bag. "I'll go get some." He slams the door behind him.

The cool air of the night breezes past him, making Zuko look up into the starry sky. He drops the bucket by the door and opens the bag in his hands.

The blue smiling mask stares back.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

_A/N: So here's chapter 8! Next chapter will probably come in two weeks instead of next weeks since I'm going away on vacation. As always, reviews, favorites, and follows are appreciated :)_

_If you want to see a really cute picture I drew of Kakashi and Appa, check out this link to my Tumblr: _**_ bit . ly / 2ySj8rK_**

* * *

Kakashi doesn't mean to listen in on Lee's and Mushi's conversation, but the walls are so thin and his senses are better than the regular civilian's. It's interesting to hear that they're firebenders and that the nephew has some kind of relation to the Avatar.

When Lee mentions his 'destiny', Kakashi gets a bit more curious about the duo. And while he could let the conversation feed him more information, he decides to break the tension to see what Lee does. When the teen storms out of the apartment, Kakashi knows to follow him. A shadow clone poofs into existence and lays down on his futon. Quickly changing back into his navy shinobi clothes to help blend into the night, he heads off after the teen. His headband is back in its rightful place.

The window in his room provides a perfect exit for Kakashi, using his chakra to walk up the wall to the rooftops. He keeps low, watching for any Dai Li agents while keeping an eye out for Lee. He crosses over the rooftops, finding the streets practically empty other than the stray animal or guard.

He hears a grunt and a tussle a few streets away. When he arrives, there's a figure with a blue theater mask running away from a Dai Li agent. "Out of my way, skinny," the disguised man shouts back at the earthbender.

Kakashi raises an eyebrow in surprise. That was definitely Lee's voice. Perhaps that's what his uncle meant by "stirring up trouble".

The agent falls for the bait like textbook. Lee leads him into an alley with a dummy set up on the far side then hides in the shadows of some crates. The agent fires his rock gloves at the figure's chest and head, knocking off the stuffed dummy's head and bringing it down.

Kakashi watches as Lee silently unsheathes his sword from his scabbard, revealing it to be two curved swords. The Dai Li agent doesn't even see him coming as the swords hook around his neck. "If you don't want to end up like him, you'll do what I say. Tell me where the Avatar's bison is."

The interrogation goes smoothly; the Dai Li agent obviously hasn't had training in resistance and spills all the information about the bison and their secret base under Lake Laogai. Kakashi silently drops down from his perch behind Lee as the teen knocks out the agent with the butt of his sword.

"Well, well, aren't you a troublemaker?" Kakashi says while opening his orange masterpiece to the page he left off at. He peers over the edge of the book as Lee whips around to stare at him. The teen twirls his blades at him, not saying a word.

Kakashi simply turns the page. This was his favorite part after all. "You _really_ must not like serving tea."

At that, the teen sprits at him, blades ready to cut. Kakashi matches Lee slice-for-slice, easily dodging while still reading his novel. He even starts a conversation. "Your plan with the Dai Li agent was pretty good, but it would've fallen apart if he had called for backup."

He can't help it, the teen reminded him of his old genin student (before he turned his back on them).

Lee still doesn't respond but starts to pant as his slices become sloppier and sloppier. Kakashi decides to stop him before he gets too tired out. As Lee overreaches a thrust again, Kakashi steps to the side and grabs Mushi's nephew's hand as it passes by. He easily twists the wrist, making the teen drop his sword on the ground. Lee struggles, swinging his other arm to try and hit Kakashi. Kakashi simply twists his arm behind his back and pushes Lee against the wall of the building, pinning his remaining sword between the stone and the teen's chest.

He sighs, finally tucking the book back into his pocket. "Now then, let's calm down, hm?"

"Who are you?!" the teen shouts.

"Look I just want to help you find the bison is all." Kakashi doesn't know what the boy wants to do with Appa, so he goes with the most believable answer. "I'd like to get in on that sweet reward."

"You're… you're after the reward?"

"Of course, plus a little bit of gratitude from the Avatar wouldn't hurt. Isn't that why you're after the bison too?"

Lee hesitates before answering, "Yes."

Kakashi rolls his eyes, glad the teen can't see him. Lee's worse at lying than Naruto, and that's saying something.

"So, we can help each other instead of being against each other. I heard everything that the Dai Li said about the lake and the bison. I can help you infiltrate it, be the distraction, whatever. Then we can split the reward. What do you say?"

He can see Lee try to see the positives and negatives of his plan. The teen probably thinks that he can take Kakashi down with his bending at the lake when they reach the bison. Finally, the teen nods against the wall. He releases the teen and picks up the sword to hand back to him. Lee cautiously takes it back, tucking both swords into his sheath.

"You wouldn't happen to know where this Lake Laogai is?" Kakashi asks while tucking his hands into his pockets.

"It's in the agricultural section of Ba Sing Se, on the west side. We'll have to cross the wall to get to it."

"Right, we'll have to go tonight before they switch bases." Kakashi walks over to the downed Dai Li agent and drags him into the shadows of the crates. He grabs a nearby tarp and tosses it over the unconscious man. "Let's go."

They run towards the closest rail station to the outer wall of the Lower Ring. Kakashi decides that it would be best to let Mushi's uncle know where to go fetch Lee after this is all over. As they run back past their apartment, Kakashi makes sure Lee is in front of him before tossing a kunai with a coded location scratched into the handle into his shadow clone's room. His clone should get the idea.

Lee constantly looks back at him as they journey towards Lake Laogai, obviously wanting to ask Kakashi questions but refrains. The mask doesn't help much to hide the teen's emotions. They arrive at the empty station save for one guardsman. He's leaning against the train cart, hat tilled in front of his face. The green glow of the crystal torches doesn't reach so far in the night, allowing Kakashi and Lee to slip onto the stone tracks easily. They make sure to stay low and run fast.

Kakashi spots the lake down below once they make it to the other side. They slide down the hillside, coming to hide behind some rocks lining the shoreline. The lake is quiet, mist making the scene eerier.

"There's nothing here. The Dai Li lied to me," Lee hisses and turns around, ready to head back and hunt the man down.

Kakashi grabs his arm before he can leave. "Ma, haven't you heard that patience is a virtue? Sit down for a bit." He can tell there's been some kind of activity here, but he's not sure if it's from an underground secret base or people visiting the lake.

"Fine, ten minutes." The teen yanks his arm out of Kakashi's grasp. "If no one shows up, I'm heading back."

And so, they wait, looking for any movement around them. The foliage rustles in the wind, the water laps at the sand, yet there are no people. Time passes slowly. With each minute that passes, the teen gets more agitated.

Suddenly, the sound of scraping rocks come from behind them. Kakashi reacts before Lee does, tugging the teen to the opposite side of the boulder. Together they peek around the side of the rock.

A large cave opens up in the mountainside, two Dai Li bending the earth around them. More agents come spilling out of the entrance, moving large crates on earthy platforms. Lee moves to sneak in, but Kakashi halts him.

"What?" Lee snarls.

"There's no way you can get through all of them," Kakashi says seriously, no playful tone in his voice. This is a mission now; one he cannot fail. "Wait until the others get far enough before taking out the two at the door."

Lee thinks for a moment before nodding. Together, they creep closer and closer in the shadows until they're hiding in the nearest shrub by the hidden entrance. When the last agent with a crate slides up the slope with his package, the two at the door move to seal the door.

"Now." Kakashi speeds forward with a silent _Shunshin_ to the one farthest to them, letting Lee sprint to the other one with his swords drawn. He knocks his opponent out with the butt of his kunai before the man can even turn around. With the teen around, it'd be best to keep the bloodshed to a minimum. Lee does the same thing with one of his swords.

They creep into the base, revealing miles and miles of long tunnels. Footsteps not their own echo all around them. Kakashi turns to the masked teen. "You wouldn't have happened to have gotten directions from that Dai Li?"

"There should be a steel door that the bison is locked behind."

Kakashi draws out a sigh from behind his mask. "Well, let's get searching."

He would've suggested splitting up, but with the unknown number of agents that could be hidden in the tunnels, it wouldn't be a good idea (for the teen, at least). The small, bluish crystals lining the tunnels are their only source of light, no sunlight penetrating the stone walls around them. They check each steel door they come across, spotting storage rooms, jail cells, and even a small room with a single lantern on a circular rail. They each take one side of the tunnel, hiding away whenever the Dai Li pass by.

Lee opens one of the doors and Kakashi can hear the familiar growl of the flying bison. The teen takes up most of the doorway, but Kakashi can see overhead the mused fur of the large animal. "Expecting someone else?" the teen asks the bison as he steps into the room.

Appa only growls louder in response.

Kakashi closes the door behind them but not all the way. The noise makes the teen and bison turn to him. Appa stops growling.

He tilts his head towards the bison, making eye contact with the brown eyes. "Welp, what are we going to do with him?"

Lee turns back to face the bison, swords still drawn by his side. It takes him a moment before he speaks. "I… I have to get him out of here first."

The teen is the only one who reacts when the door creaks open. Kakashi's shadow clone had dispersed when turning into the hallway they were currently in with company in tow. The copy had made sure to poof away out of sight.

The door opens further to reveal the portly figure of the teen's uncle. Kakashi's somewhat surprised at the memories he receives, that the tea maker decided to come with his doppelganger to find his nephew. The man wasn't half bad at sneaking around either.

"Uncle?" Lee questions, taking off his mask. "What are you doing here?"

The man's eyes are alight with anger. "I was just about to ask you the same thing. What do you plan to do now that you've found the Avatar's bison? Keep him locked in our new apartment? Should I go put on a pot of tea for him?"

"I'm… I'm going to…"

"You never think these things through!" Mushi shouts. "This is exactly what happened when you captured the Avatar at the North Pole! You had him, and then you had nowhere to go!"

Well, shit. Things were getting heated, literally. Lee's palms sputter with flames, making his swords' handles glow with heat. It also wasn't good news that the teen was actively working against the Avatar Kakashi has to help. Kakashi creeps further back into the cell, standing next to the bison. "I guess you know these two."

Appa huffs while placing his head on his paws. Kakashi gets to work on picking the shackles on the bison's hind legs. It's when he's reaching the two last chains on Appa's front legs when the conversation draws his attention back to the nephew.

"I'm begging you, Prince Zuko! It's time for you to look inward and begin asking yourself the big questions. Who are you, and what do _you_ want?"

Kakashi looks up at the reveal of Lee's true name. He supposes a prince of the Fire Nation wouldn't exactly help free the bison out of the goodness of his heart. Then again, the teen was in the Lower Ring of the Ba Sing Se serving tea.

While the newly-named Zuko freaks out, throwing his swords to the ground, Kakashi undoes the last shackles on Appa. The bison moves forward to lick Kakashi.

The movement of the large animal brings the two firebenders' attention back to him, both seemingly forgetting that he was there in the first place. Kakashi scratches the back of his head. He would rather not take the teen down in front of his uncle. "So, hope you don't mind but I was planning to return the bison to the Avatar."

Mushi (if that even is the man's name) pins his nephew with a hard stare. The teen has beads of sweat decorating his forehead, looking at his forgotten swords on the floor. "…Go."

"Right." The door is too small for Appa to go through. Kakashi looks up at the source of light, the moonlight shining through a metal grate high above them. "I'd suggest you two get out of here then. Wouldn't do for the Avatar and the Dai Li to find you two. I'll meet you back at the apartment."

The old man quirks a bushy eyebrow at his statement, but the teen is silent, still standing like a statue. "Very well." And the two disappear out of the cell.

Kakashi attaches a paper tag to one of his kunai and tosses it into the grate above. The rice paper starts to burn. He pushes Appa so they're against the wall.

With a loud explosion, the metal grate comes tumbling down. It crashes on the stone below, making another bang. Someone would definitely hear that. Kakashi hops onto the bison's bare back, clutching the brown fur that made up his markings. There's barely and space between his head and the stone ceiling of the cell. "Let's get out of here."

Appa grumbles in agreement and flaps his tail. Kakashi's hair brushes the rocks as the bison rockets up the tunnel to freedom. Kakashi grabs onto the fur tighter. They appear out of a clifftop, flying into the sky high above the misty lake. The sunrise is beautiful from so high up, reflecting off the water and haze. Kakashi pats the back of the bison, repeating the words he said in the forest. "Glad to have you back." Even though the bison wasn't much of a conversationalist, Kakashi did miss the great beast.

A speck of white approaches the side of Appa. Kakashi first thinks that it's a curious bird but as it gets closer, he can see the large ears and body of the creature. It's some kind of cross between a bat and a lemur. It flies to the side of the bison's head, chittering excitedly and nuzzling into the white fur.

Appa groans in response and reciprocates the motion. Kakashi looks at the small creature. "Friend of yours?"

At his words, the small animal's ears flick upwards. The flying lemur notices him, screeching in surprise and jerking back to flap its wings in place. The bison grumbles, speaking back to his tiny companion. After a few groans and chitters, the conversation about Kakashi is seemingly done.

The lemur loops around and descends towards the opposite shore of the lake. Appa steadily following behind. As they get closer and closer to the ground, the fog clears more and more. There's a group of children surround on all sides by Dai Li standing on rock walls. Kakashi wonders why so many teens want to find the Avatar's bison.

Kakashi can see the bison lowering its head, horns ready to plow through the stone. Appa heads toward the far wall, making sure the wall tumbles away from the kids. That leaves Kakashi to deal with the other wall as well as the ones sticking to the cliff.

As Appa makes his charge, one kid in orange notices the huge shape against the sun. "Appa!" he calls joyfully.

Kakashi makes sure to swiftly jump off the back off the bison, blending in with the rain of broken stones. He lands on the shoreline unnoticed (except for one short girl). With the lake beside him, water jutsu would definitely be easier against the earthbenders.

Kakashi flicks through the forty-four hand seals with familiar ease. The B-rank jutsu would be enough to disrupt the Dai Li. As he lands on the _tori_ seal, Kakashi quietly calls out, "_Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Dragon)_!"

It's the rushing water that flows higher and higher that catches everyone's attention. The dragon head of the water glares down at the earthbenders. It silently roars before surging through the stone walls and cliffside, sweeping up the Dai Li agents in its current. It tosses them far out into the lake.

One of the kids nudges the girl dressed in blue still staring up at the animated water, but she shakes her head in denial. It's only when the shortest girl that noticed his landing points in his direction does the group notice Kakashi.

He drops the jutsu when Appa tosses the only remaining earthbender out into the water by the leg with enough force for the man to skip across the surface.

The kids move to surround the bison. The taller girl turns to him. "Who are you?"

Kakashi just slouches in place, giving the group a lazy wave. "Yo, I'm the one who freed the bison. You're welcome, by the way."

The bald kid with arrow tattoos is still hugging the bison when he looks at Kakashi. "You're the one who saved Appa?"

Kakashi blanks for a second, looking between the bison and the twelve-year-old. The arrow tattoos. How he's hanging onto the giant animal like a lifeline. Kakashi almost wants to pull his hair out in frustration because of the fact that the Avatar, savior of the war and Kakashi's ticket home, is some kid dressed in vibrant colors (he and his blonde student would make great friends). "Yes," he answers blandly. He really needs a drink. Kakashi takes out the scroll in his pouch. "I have a scroll for you. From some creepy guru at the Eastern Air Temple."

The teen with a short ponytail stops the Avatar from approaching him to take the message. "How do we know we can trust you?"

Kakashi rolls his lone eye. "Trust me or don't, I don't care." He tosses the scroll at the kid, who catches it on instinct. "Anyways, I'm out of here."

"Wait, we didn't even get your name!" the older boy yells, throwing up his hands.

The Avatar has a completely different reaction. A wide grin spreads across his face. "Can you teach me that cool waterbending trick?"

Kakashi eye-smiles. "No." And poofs out of existence.

* * *

Kakashi uses _Shunshin_ for most of the way back. He rubs his forehead as he arrives at the apartment. In the words of a Nara, this is definitely troublesome. He should've stayed with the group, having finally found the Avatar after all this time, but having to deal with a group of kids to stop a war wasn't exactly what he had in mind. If they're as bad as his genin at that age, Kakashi would probably go insane. He's bound to meet the Avatar again in the Upper Ring anyways.

He slides open the door to reveal "Lee" lying on the futon with sweat all over his face, the teen's uncle patting his forehead with a damp towel. The old man gets off his knees, brushing off invisible dust. "I didn't think you would come back. I assume you have questions."

"I'll be sure to ask them, but right now, I really need a drink. You guys have sake?"


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

_A/N: This chapter was just... ugh. Struggle was real. I'm definitely not satisfied with this chapter but here you go. Also wasn't really in the writing mood during my vacation in Singapore (which was super fun!). Also, I'll be doing updates every two weeks instead now due to school starting up. Going to have five classes in the fall so that's going to be fun._

_If you want updates on my life, sneak peeks or even some art I do, check me out on Tumblr at the-simplest-writer! Come hang out and ask me questions!_

_I also drew a cute comic of Kakashi meeting the kids in Chapter 8! Check it out here: _ **bit . ly / 2PcehMM **_(remove spaces)_

* * *

Iroh sticks to his jasmine tea while Kakashi sips his sake dish through his mask (how he does it… very carefully). He places the small dish back onto the tea table while longingly glancing at the empty bottle. "So… you and Zuko are both royal fugitives of the Fire Nation and, along with the Avatar and his friends, are being hunted down by the crown princess and the army. Oh, and you were a Fire Nation general and brother to the Fire Lord."

"Yes, pretty much."

Really, Kakashi should've gotten drunk the moment that alcohol became available. It definitely took his mind off of the fact he was now in a completely different world than in Konoha while his fellow shinobi were being killed off by a madman.

While he isn't Tsunade, Kakashi's been to enough shinobi outings to hold his own. His tongue is definitely loosened but he makes sure that secrets stay secrets.

His story stays straight so far. He's not from the Fire Nation (how he wishes he can say the Fire Country). He's from a far-off island that hasn't seen any war until now. He's trained in combat, which is a tradition in his homeland. His village is destroyed and all of friends and teammates are dead. Whoops. At least this isn't anything new for anyone who actually knows "Friend-Killer" Kakashi.

Iroh doesn't look too shocked, just sips his tea and cups it tightly between his palms. The old man is surprisingly hard to read, or that might've been the sake. "I'm sorry to hear about your village. War is a horrible thing."

Kakashi wishes that he hadn't drained the bottle so fast. Iroh's statement makes a rush of memories attack the forefront of his mind. What would normally make a person bang their head against the wall into unconsciousness makes Kakashi sigh into his palm. "I'd cheer to that."

"Here." The old man hands him a steaming cup, allowing the two to clank to porcelain together. The smooth jasmine clears up his buzz just a bit so that Kakashi isn't as haunted by disappointed eyes from the shadows of the room.

"Can I ask why you trust me?" Because he needs to know. Why should he be trusted when he's such a failure at protecting his village?

Iroh stares into Kakashi's lone eye before looking into his swirling tea. "I think that you're being hard on yourself right now, in a place of conflict. Your past mistakes weigh you down to this day, and I believe that you deserve some forgiveness. You remind me of my nephew, but much, much older," he chuckles.

Kakashi drinks the rest of his tea in one gulp before getting up from the tea table. "I'm going to sleep now." He isn't going to get into this; drunk or not.

"Of course. I must tend to my nephew; he's gotten very ill. I'll see you in the morning."

The next day, Kakashi helps pack up Iroh's and Zuko's things while the old man tends to his sick nephew. Zuko wakes only a few times from his fitful sleep, chugging down water like he's dying of dehydration. Kakashi makes sure that the water bucket is always full while Iroh tends to the teen's fever. The old man explains it was some kind of internal change happening to the firebender, but Kakashi mentally shrugs and leaves it at "fever".

* * *

Appa brings them to a tiny island hidden deep within the mist of the lake. While Aang and Momo reunite with Appa, Sokka stands by his sister and Toph.

"I mean did you see that guy?!" he exclaims while throwing his arms up. "I mean, he pulled this giant water dragon out of the lake!"

"Well, I couldn't see it, but I could definitely feel it." Toph crosses her arms. "The water came down with a lot of force. He moves almost like Twinkletoes over here."

"He must've been a master waterbender! I wonder why Master Pakku didn't teach me something like that."

"Uh, guys…" Aang wanders over with his animal companions in tow. "I don't really think that was waterbending."

Sokka stares in disbelief. "Aang, the water was moving. Of course it was waterbending. He moved his arms and the water did its magic."

Aang hesitates, "I just… it just didn't really feel… right?"

"Are you even hearing yourself?"

"Sokka!" Katara punches her brother on the arm before turning to Aang. "Even though Sokka should've phrased it differently, I think he might be right, Aang. It just seemed like advanced waterbending. Don't you remember that guy who made that fire dragon back at the Fire Days Festival?"

Toph also shrugs, "Just felt like regular old water to me, Twinkletoes. What makes you think it was different?"

Aang looks to each and every member of the group. "I don't really know. It just had an off feeling to it." He huffs. "Maybe I'm just overthinking it. It's probably just because I've never seen someone waterbend like that." Yet, he couldn't shake the feeling he was right. The man's stance wasn't any waterbending motion he had ever seen.

"Well, he definitely helped us out there, so try not to worry about it," Sokka says as he winds an arm around Aang's shoulder. He points with his hand at the scroll still tucked into the boy's belt. "What did he give you anyways?"

"I'm not sure, let me check." As he unwinds the old parchment, his friends all squish together over his shoulders to look. ("Toph, quit shoving! You can't even read!") Aang scans the message over once, then twice.

"Guys," Toph whines, "what does it say?"

"It's from the Eastern Air Temple. There's a guru living there, and he wants to help me take the next step in the Avatar journey. He says he can teach me to control the Avatar State."

"Aang, that's great!" Katara shouts excitedly.

"Yeah, yeah, but is there any mention of that guy who gave you the scroll?" The Water Tribe teen snatches the message from Aang's hands and leans into it, scanning the page.

"Nope, it just mentions a guru."

The earthbender cocks her head. "How'd this waterbending guy get a message from an Air Temple anyways?"

"Not sure," the Avatar shrugs, "but I feel like he has something to do with Appa. Isn't that right, buddy?"

The bison grumbles in agreement.

"I hate to tell you this, Aang, but I think you should hold off on seeing this guru guy," Sokka says with the scroll in hand.

"What?! Why?"

"Look, we escaped from the Dai Li. We got Appa back. I'm telling you; we should go to the Earth King now and tell him our plan."

"We only got away from the Dai Li 'cause Slippy managed to take care of them so easily."

Katara turns to Toph. "…'Slippy'?"

"He just felt like a slippery guy."

Sokka brings their attention back to him. "Maybe we'll find him again and get his support, along with the Earth King's! Then we can take down the Fire Nation!"

Their youngest member scoffs. "What makes you think we'll get it? I don't know if you've noticed, but things don't usually go that smoothly for our little gang. We don't even know if Slippy's still around, let alone in Ba Sing Se. And he didn't seem too keen on helping us."

Aang looks off into the mist around them before his expression turns serious. "Now that we have Appa back, there's nothing stopping us from telling the Earth King the truth. About the conspiracy and the War. I think we should be trying our best to make sure the Earth Kingdom is prepared." He almost starts to curl into himself. "I don't want anything like the drill to happen again."

"See? Aang's with me." The teen puts his arm around Aang and smiles comfortingly. "It's the whole reason we came here in the first place. We have to try."

Katara glances at her airbending friend, who looks back with reassurance. "Well, I guess if the Earth King knew the truth, things could change. And if we can get that waterbender on our side somehow would definitely help."

"Yeah! Maybe I can learn how to make an earth dragon too!"

Before they can continue their planning, Aang spots a shadow on the water through the mist. "That a ship."

"That's probably the Dai Li searching for us." Sokka moves toward the bison. "Let's go see the Earth King!"

* * *

It's only after a few days that Quon sends a carriage to the Lower Ring to pick up the three and their meager possessions. Zuko still sleeps through the day, exhausted as the fever finally starts to die down. Kakashi easily hauls the teen into the seat next to his uncle, both redressed not to give away their late-night escape. Their ride to the Upper Ring is relatively smooth and quiet with only those in the Lower Ring stopping to stare at their decorated carriage. Kakashi and Iroh make quiet conversation with each other while Zuko dozes off beside them.

Quon greets them at their new apartment, apparently not far from the tea shop's location. The old man easily deflects the Earth Kingdom elite's concern, saying that Lee went out during the night with his Lower Ring friends one last time. The nobleman has his attendants help bring the bags of items higher and higher until they're on the top floor of the building. Kakashi's forced to give his sack to one of them as he heaves the napping banished prince onto his back. The attendants look on in awe at his strength as he arrives at the top floor, pausing in straightening out the furniture (but in reality, the teen wasn't that heavy to carry up the flights of stairs).

Kakashi nods to the man and his attendants in thanks as they leave, leaving the trio alone in their new, large apartment. Kakashi drops Zuko in his new room, leaving the teen to sleep in through the morning. He scratches his head as he wanders around, spotting the three bedrooms and two bathrooms along with the living room and kitchen. It's much bigger than his meager apartment back in Konoha.

When he gets back to the kitchen, Iroh's already started to make breakfast. "Need any help?"

"No need. Jook isn't that hard to make. It's almost done anyway."

It's strange, joining an older man for a calm breakfast. It's something that Kakashi hasn't done in a very, very long time. There's a part of him that's screaming, shouting that he doesn't deserve such peace, that he should be back at the memorial stone and beg for forgiveness from all the newly added. Either that or be ten feet under the ground with the rest of his village. A tiny part of him wants this to be the usual, sitting down at a table and enjoying a meal with company that doesn't feel sorry for "poor, old Kakashi". His face is carefully blank as he throws his conflict back once more.

Iroh is eyeing him like the perceptive old man he is, but his attention is taken away by his newly awaken nephew stepping into the room with a yawn. "What's that smell?"

"It's jook, I'm sure you wouldn't like it," his uncle replies as he hands a steaming bowl to Kakashi. It's plain with no seasoning to go along with the rice porridge, but the warm temperature is perfect for the morning.

Apparently it's unexpected when Zuko does accept the bland breakfast, his uncle looking at him in disbelief as the teen eagerly takes a spoonful. "It's a new day. We've got a new apartment, new furniture, and today's the grand opening of your new tea shop. Things are looking up, Uncle."

Kakashi takes a seat next to the banished prince. "Well, someone managed to go from moody teen to mister happy-go-lucky after a fever. That's not something that happens often." If only that had happened to his traitorous student. He jams his spoon into the jook with just a bit more force than necessary. Kakashi lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

Zuko turns to him after taking a careful sip of his bowl. "I just had some realizations while I was sick. I'm sorry for treating you the way I have and I'm thankful for your help with the Avatar's bison."

"I'm sure you are." Because while the teen's uncle is optimistic about the sudden change, Kakashi holds a few more doubts. "Anyways, I'm done with breakfast. Let's go check out the tea shop."

Iroh perks up excitedly and Zuko watches his uncle fondly. "Yes! To the Jasmine Dragon!"


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Kakashi isn't surprised Iroh gets invited to the royal palace to serve tea to the Earth King. The Jasmine Dragon has been busy ever since its new opening in the Upper Ring. Although his official duty is being a bodyguard to the old general and his nephew, Kakashi often takes up the role of a waiter when its tea hour. His younger self would've died before becoming a tea server but Iroh's brewing is really something else. He can almost forget the fact that his village is a crater in the ground.

Kakashi holds a palm over his cup of steaming tea, looking on as the old man packs his cart with his tea-making essentials. The heated air starts to burn his hand, but he doesn't move it from the cup's edge. Really it should've been anyone else from Konoha to be sent to this place. He moves his hand out of the steam, hand pink and moist from the heat. A lone eye stares back at him in the light green water. It would only be a matter of time before he'd start drowning in his thoughts all over again. A boulder, a hand through the heart, the fox, and now a giant pile of rubble. This time there wouldn't be a memorial stone to escape to. Kakashi downs his jasmine tea in one go (how he does it without displacing his scarf, the firebenders still have no idea).

He waves them off as they head to the palace in the very center of the city. Iroh trusts him to take care of the Jasmine Dragon while their gone and tells him that they really wouldn't need a bodyguard or extra server within the royal palace. Kakashi agrees, so he stays back to watch over the shop. Without their residential tea-maker, Kakashi can only sell the pre-brewed pots that Iroh left him. The servers all help him out in dealing with some of the disgruntled customers who came for "Mushi's" fresh tea. He tells them that the old man would be back tomorrow. After all, it wouldn't take that long to visit the palace for a day to serve tea.

When Iroh barges through the doors while Kakashi is sweeping up the shop, he knows that something is definitely wrong.

"What happened?"

"Azula," Iroh says as if that single name explains everything. Kakashi's reminded of blue fire.

"Zuko's sister?" The one who had attacked him and Appa back in the forest with her friends and the Kyoshi Warriors.

"She's managed to invade the palace. And she's teamed up with the Dai Li."

"Where's Zuko?"

"Captured."

Kakashi curses out loud, not that Iroh seems to mind. He moves into the back room with the old man following close behind. "There's too many agents and guards around the palace for the two of us. What's your plan to get him back?"

Iroh watches as Kakashi digs through the sack he always brings with him, pulling out the metal-plated headband he saw the man wear that one night. "I know where the Avatar lives in the Upper Ring. If we can get him and his friends on our side, I can rescue him," Iroh explains as Kakashi expertly wraps the navy cloth around his head, tugging off the emerald scarf to reveal his facemask that never moves from its place.

Kakashi looks at Iroh incredulously as he places his kunai pouch in its proper spot on his thigh. "You sure he's enough to invade the palace?"

This makes the old man laugh. "My nephew and his soldiers have faced him many times, and every single time the Avatar has escaped from his clutches. He may be young, but do not underestimate him."

Kakashi weighs the pros and cons of bringing along kids for an infiltration before sighing. "Fine, but we're going to need to gather some information first before we can rescue your nephew."

With that, the two start to hatch a plan. Iroh doesn't know how Kakashi manages to hide in the shadows so well that even the old general can't detect him, but he decides not to question it as he finds a spot in an abandoned, narrow alley squished between two buildings. He expertly trips as a dark green robe passes by the opening, crying out in pain while lying on the dirt.

"Sir! Are you okay?" The Dai Li agent jogs toward Iroh who lays still on the ground. As the man helps the old firebender off the ground, that's Kakashi's cue to appear behind the Dai Li agent with a small knife to his throat. Iroh is quick to stand up and study the Dai Li's face. He's sweating already, face marred with a small, stitched scar on his cheek.

Kakashi presses his knife further. "Yell and you die. Any of your friends come and you die. Try to escape and you. Will. Die." Iroh's surprised at how their usually laidback bodyguard/waiter is so serious, but it's very effective. There almost even seems to be a menacing aura around the mysterious man. The Dai Li agent gulps and starts to shake, sweat piling upon his brow. "Where is Prince Zuko being held?"

The answer comes instantaneously. "In-in the Crystal Catacombs below the Palace."

Iroh pipes up in front of him. "Why are the Dai Li and Princess Azula working together?"

A moment of hesitation earns the agent a shallow cut. "Azula and Long Feng are plotting a coup to overthrow the Earth King!"

Iroh takes a moment to think about the statement before nodding to Kakashi. The agent panics, "Wait! Please don't—"

The retired general isn't sure what his accomplice would do, so it's a bit of a relief that Kakashi only knocks out the man with a swift hit with the butt of his weapon. The Dai Li agent drops to the floor like a rock.

Kakashi kneels to move the unconscious body into the shadows, but Iroh stops him. "We'll take him with us. Perhaps he may help convince the Avatar to help us."

As he throws the dead weight over his shoulder, Kakashi side-eyes the old man. "Didn't you say that your nephew used to hunt the Avatar? What makes you think that he'd be so quick to forgive him?"

"Azula is a common enemy, one that is definitely more troublesome than my nephew. My nephew and I haven't bothered the Avatar in a long time. The fact that she is planning a coup to take over Ba Sing Se for the Fire Nation helps convince our case."

Kakashi only effortlessly moves back into the shadows of the buildings once more as an answer. Iroh's impressed since it's around midday and there aren't that many shadows in the first place. He trusts that Kakashi will be able to keep up with him even with the Dai Li agent weighing him down.

It's only when Iroh approaches the Avatar's house on the other side of the Upper Ring does Kakashi reappear beside him with the agent restrained with thin wire and a cloth stuffed into his mouth. The normally pristine Upper Ring house is covered in scaffolding and a cloth draped over a hole on the right side.

Appa is lying on the stone road when he spots them. He grumbles in greeting.

Kakashi waves back with his free hand. "Yo. Nice to see you again." They peacefully walk past the bison to the door, Iroh knocking on it while Kakashi stands to the side.

It's the short girl in green who answers the door. Kakashi's momentarily blindsided by the appearance of the Byakugan but soon realizes that her eyes aren't on Iroh in front of her. She's blind.

Yet, even without Iroh speaking a word to her, she seems to know that it's the old man standing in the doorway. "Glad to see you're okay," she greets happily. "I didn't know you two know each other." She glances at Kakashi from her position at the door.

"I need your help." The old man's statement is the one that sets the two boys off, both startling backward away from Iroh while the girl isn't bothered.

Kakashi rolls his eye and gently nudges Iroh forward into the house, allowing him to step into sight. The boys' heads swivel back and forth between them. He lazily raises his hand in greeting. "Yo."

"You're the guy who saved Appa and us from the Dai Li!" Avatar Aang points at him. "And did that awesome water dragon move!"

His friend joins in on the shouting. "You helped us against the Dai Li. So why are you with _him_?!" The teen motions to Iroh. "And Toph!" He turns to the blind girl. "How do you two know each other?!"

"I met him in the woods once and knocked him down. Then he gave me some tea and some very good advice."

Kakashi tosses the agent on the ground, making him groan. Must've not been as unconscious as he thought. Iroh steps in before the kids can freak out about himself even further. "Princess Azula is here in Ba Sing Se."

That makes them shut up. The Avatar grows serious. "She must have Katara." Kakashi had noticed the missing blue-dressed girl when he had walked in.

"She has captured my nephew as well."

It apparently didn't take much convincing to get the Avatar on their side, since the next sentence out of the boy's mouth was, "Then we'll work together to fight Azula, and save Katara and Zuko." Kakashi almost sighs. In relief or exasperation, he doesn't know.

"Whoa there!" The other blue-dressed teen gets close to Avatar Aang's side. Kakashi assumes that Katara is his sister with their similar attire and appearance. "You lost me at 'Zuko'."

"Sokka…" Aang turns to his friend.

Kakashi slouches even further, hands shoved in his pockets. He interrupts, "Look, you're wasting our time. Azula might've already killed your sister and you're here doubting someone who has a common enemy with you."

"…killed?" That makes Aang pale drastically. Even the other children look a bit sick.

Kakashi's eyebrow creeps upward. "You think she wouldn't? Last time I saw her she seemed pretty trigger-happy. But every minute you waste arguing with us, the more time your 'Katara' and his nephew might be tortured or dead." Iroh looks at him sternly, as if he shouldn't be burdening the Avatar and his friends with such harsh truths, but Kakashi ignores him. He doesn't think about how his students first encountered the dangers of the shinobi world. He doesn't.

Sokka sheepishly rubs the back of his head. "I guess it's best we team up then."

Kakashi nods and moves towards the still Dai Li agent on the floor. Aang speaks up from behind him. "We still don't know your name…"

"It's Kakashi." And he kicks the man in the side, making him flinch. The Dai Li's eyes open and are immediately filled with fear as Kakashi kneels down to eye-level easily brings out a kunai again. "You're going to repeat what you told us to the Avatar," he says as if they're talking about the weather. He slices through the cloth gag, allowing the man to speak.

"Azula and Long Feng are plotting a coup! They're going to overthrow the Earth King!"

Sokka brings out a strangely carved sword to threaten the downed man. "My sister! Where are they keeping Katara?"

"In the crystal catacombs of Old Ba Sing Se, deep beneath the palace."

With the information he needs, Sokka is the first one to storm out of the house. Aang is quick to follow his friend. The blind girl stops on the ground and stone slabs sandwich the agent in between them, making him immobile. Kakashi and Iroh glance at each other from the corners of their eyes before heading out of the doorway.

Aang demonstrates his airbending skills by gently lifting Iroh onto Appa's back. While the Avatar settles at the base of Appa's neck, Kakashi observes the kid from his spot as they take off. Manipulating all five nature releases was rare in the elemental nations, most commonly only the Kage and S-rank shinobi. While Kakashi could use all five (apparently lightning wasn't its own element here), he definitely couldn't say that he could use all of them equally. Kakashi didn't exactly have high hopes for this young Avatar.

They fly right over the palace walls and land around the corner of one of the elevated buildings. Kakashi is suspicious of the empty courtyard, kunai clutched in hand, but there's no sign of any guards or Dai Li around.

When Toph leaps down off of Appa, she holds a hand to the ground. "Well, what do ya know? There _is_ an ancient city down there. But it's deep." Kakashi figures that she must use some kind of vibration sense to "see" her surroundings. With a fast sweeping motion of her arms, a crater easily forms in front of her. Kakashi has to whistle in appreciation.

Sokka steps in. "We should split up. Azula must have most of the Dai Li in the palace. Since there shouldn't be that many guards in the catacombs, Aang, you should go with Iroh to look for Katara and the angry jerk," and realizes that Iroh is standing right next to him, "no offense."

Iroh shrugs in good nature. "None taken."

"I'll go with Toph and Kakashi to warn the Earth King of Azula's coup." Sokka turns to Kakashi, who's slouching in place with his hands shoved in his pockets. Sokka seems to be looking for something on his person. "I hope you can keep up without any water to bend," he says skeptically.

Kakashi's visible eyebrow inches up behind his headband. "I think I can make do."

With the plan in place, Aang makes the same hand motions as Toph and the crater in the ground grows bigger as it turns into a tunnel. The Avatar and Iroh move into the hole and nod to those still on the surface before Aang seals it away. The cover doesn't quite match the stone brick path, but with no one outside, it doesn't really matter.

The rest move towards the center of the palace, watching for anyone in the courtyard. Still, the place is empty. Sokka moves toward the center staircase and Kakashi can only wonder if the kid is that clueless. He stops him from moving further. "Aren't we trying not to alert anyone that we're here?"

"We haven't seen anyone yet, and Toph hasn't sensed anyone outside," Sokka shrugs him off.

"Right, and in the time that we reach the top of the staircase, anyone from inside the palace can easily walk out the door and spot us out in the open."

Sokka thinks for a moment, hand placed on his chin. "You got a point there, Kakashi. You're pretty good at this!"

Kakashi deadpans. "Thanks, I try."

Toph has already moved towards the side of the steep slope that makes up the royal chambers' pedestal. "C'mon slowpokes. We're going up the side." Kakashi doesn't believe that these two can chakra-walk up the side of the red wall, but Toph surprises him by cutting out a square platform from the ground and lifting them upwards. The stone grinding against stone is almost silent, only creating dust behind them.

When they land outside the building, Kakashi immediately spots the Dai Li agents. Two on the decorated pillars and one on the ceiling. "Look, there's General How!" Sokka notices instead. The general isn't able to see the Dai Li from his angle walking out of the main palace. When the first chain extends from the sleeve of an agent, Kakashi springs into action.

He blurs into place, deflecting the chain off his kunai. Sparks fly as metal grinds against metal. "What's going on?!" General How cries out behind him. Kakashi can hear Sokka shouting to the general, but he's focused on the mission in front of him: protect the client.

He launches his kunai towards the first agent's throat while dodging another chain. The Dai Li blocks his projectile with a stone fist. A large rock suddenly launches over Kakashi's shoulder and slams into the Dai Li that tries to drop down on Kakashi from the ceiling. That one definitely wouldn't be getting up.

Kakashi keeps the two remaining men on him while he shouts to the others. "General How, get out of the palace! Toph, Sokka, get to the Earth King!" He usually wouldn't have his team split up—pack sticks together—but time is of the essence. Ba Sing Se is at stake.

How immediately listens to Kakashi (his ANBU Captain tone must have come out), but Toph and Sokka hesitate to leave him. Kakashi proves a point by launching a handful of shuriken and pinning both of one agent's arms against the pillar. Sokka looks at him in awe for a moment before grabbing Toph's arm and booking it towards the oversized doors.

The other Dai Li fires his rock hands at Kakashi, but he easily dodges them while closing the distance between the two, grabbing the kunai from the ground. The agent recognizes his plan and stomps the ground to erect a stone wall between them. Instead of stopping, Kakashi sticks to the rising barrier and runs over it. The Dai Li doesn't see him coming from above, still punching his hands into the wall to shoot bricks out of the wall in hopes of hitting him. Kakashi almost feels sorry for the man as he jams his kunai into his neck.

The other man pinned to the pillar watches in horror as his comrade bleeds out on the floor. Kakashi considers eliminating him too, but the agent seems occupied already. He wipes his kunai on his pants leg and sprints through the doors.

Kakashi follows a trail of groaning Dai Li and damaged walls to find the throne room. The gigantic, ornate door before him is barely open, only one of them moved inward. Kakashi peaks around the door to find the throne occupied by the leading girl from the forest attack dressed in Earth Kingdom colors. Confronting her, a team of Dai Li and a man leading them. Sokka and Toph are being dragged away on the ground, conscious but unable to move. Most likely caused by the chakra-blocking, acrobatic girl. There's an ornately dressed man with a clothed bear also being taken away.

Kakashi's focus sharpens. The number of enemies and the incapacitated kids doesn't help his odds. The conversation between the long-haired man and Azula buys him a bit of time. It's time to move.

* * *

Sokka would definitely say that this situation wasn't ideal. Without his limbs responding to his thoughts (and wasn't that a scary feeling already), the Dai Li agent dragging him by one of his arms would easily take him down. He moves his eyes so that Toph is in his vision. She's being carried by two agents. Sokka hasn't felt this useless in a while.

He can still hear Azula talking to Long Feng behind them, convincing the Dai Li to turn their back on him when she suddenly stops. Sokka wishes that he still had control of his neck but all he can see is bright flash and a loud bang come from the throne room. Everything is in disarray after that explosion.

"Hey! What's going on?" he calls out to anyone willing to answer.

The Dai Li holding his arm doesn't answer. Instead, a dark blue blur lands on top of the man, jabbing a knife into the agent's outstretched arm. Without the man holding him up, Sokka collapses with his face in the ground. He can only hear the Dai Li's scream of pain cut short. In fact, there's a lot of yelling going on all around him.

"Toph? Are you okay?!" Sokka tries to shout, but the floor muffles his voice. The only good thing is that he doesn't hear her high-pitched screams.

Or that could be a very, very bad thing.

There's a hand grabbing his shoulder. Sokka tries to wiggle free, but it doesn't do much to dislodge the strong grip. He's suddenly flipped over onto his back.

Kakashi crouches above him and the Earth King stands right behind him holding Toph up so that she doesn't fall to the ground. King Kuei looks like he's about to faint at any moment. Sokka doesn't need to see why.

The stench of blood hits his nose hard. Sokka can barely make out black shapes lying still on the ground around him. He can feel his pulse quicken.

"Are you hurt?" Kakashi says like nothing else is wrong. Like Sokka just tripped and ended up on the ground. Like there aren't several bodies on the ground around them.

"Sokka, focus." His attention snaps back to Kakashi, the man who they just met once before. They don't know anything about this man.

Sokka answers in the only way he knows how. "Of course, completely fine. Other than the fact I can't use any of my limbs, I'm just dandy." There's another explosion somewhere to the side of Sokka. He wonders what's causing them. Aang and Katara wouldn't be so destructive, and Iroh was… well, Iroh.

Kakashi just nods at his answer, spiky gray hair swishing with the motion. "You all have to get out of here. Get back to Appa. I'll find Aang and the rest."

"No way! We can fight!" Toph shouts from the Earth King's side.

The masked man's expression sharpens, gaining a cold tint to his one eye. It reminds Sokka of that look his dad had when talking to some insubordinate men from the tribe. "You're in no state to fight and when you recover it might be too late. We'll be too far apart to join up again." Kakashi stands up from his position, hoisting Sokka over his shoulder so that he's upright. "How well trained is your bear?"

Sokka tries to ignore the red on green.

"Bosco?" Kuei responds. The bear turns at the mention of his name. "He's very well behaved, and smart too!"

That's apparently enough for Kakashi because the next thing that Sokka knows is that he's being thrown onto the back of the large animal. "Hey!"

Kakashi ignores him. "You'll find Appa off to the side of the palace. Try to stay out of sight and run if you catch any attention. I'll hold them off."

Sokka can't see the man's hand, but after a few moments, Kuei runs from behind the pillars with Bosco close behind. They stick close to the walls, hoping that the columns hide their presence from the occupied agents. Sokka tries to glance back at Kakashi, but he's already gone.

They quickly pass through the doors leading back into the empty hallway. For a second, Sokka watches in confusion as he spots Kakashi drop from the ceiling… and at the same time, on the ground fighting off the Dai Li. He must be seeing double.

* * *

Kakashi tries to save his chakra after using _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_, but with his limited short-ranged attacks and amount of shuriken, it's not an effective strategy. The princess manages slips away from the throne room through a hidden exit with two Dai Li agents while he's occupied dodging rocks and chains. None of the Dai Li have been able to touch him after sending down his kunai with an explosive tag on it disrupted them. Their leader and a few unlucky agents were blown into unconsciousness, barely able to shield themselves from the blast with stone.

The girls are the next ones to go. Kakashi makes sure that they're thoroughly knocked out and restrained in the created smokescreen. As much of a trained killer he is, Kakashi finds that there's no sense in ending their lives. Young, like little genin. They aren't as much of a threat as the Dai Li or the Fire Nation princess.

While jumping over a pair of hand-shaped rocks, he sends back a few well-placed shuriken that pierce through flesh. Kakashi keeps an eye out on the fleeing Earth King and the Avatar's companions, his shadow clone also doing its part protecting them. Some Dai Li notice the body double, heads turning back and forth between them. Kakashi makes sure that their distraction is punished.

Kakashi makes sure that the three (plus the bear) are safely through the door before allowing the shadow clone to take over for him. Some agents try to prevent him from trying to follow after Azula, but his duplicate draws them away.

The dark tunnel is steep and uneven. Kakashi knows he's at least in the crystal catacombs when small florescent emerald crystals peek out from the earth, allowing light into the cavern. There a fork in the passage, causing Kakashi to pause to observe which direction the princess went. With the appearance of the Avatar's friends, it's obvious that she would go to check on the one she captured, and that's where Kakashi can find Aang and get them all out of here.

A rumble erupts from his left. It's faint, but it's there. Kakashi pumps some chakra into his legs, speeding his descent. Along the way, two Dai Li agents are rising back up the passage on stone platforms, moving towards him. They're slow to react to Kakashi's fast rush at them. They prepare their hands, but he doesn't slow down. At the last moment, Kakashi coats the bottom of his feet with chakra, allowing him to step to his left. He's on the wall, spinning onto the ceiling and back onto the ground behind the agents, who watch his impossible movement around them. During the entire motion, Kakashi's hands blur through hand signs. He turns around with his hands together. "_Doton: Doryūheki (Earth-Style Wall)_!" A thick wall of earth springs from the ground, blocking the Dai Li from following him. While the earthbenders would break through eventually, it would buy Kakashi some time. He continues to sprint down the tunnel.

It finally leads Kakashi into a wide cave. A trail of sharp crystals sprouts from the ground, growing larger and encasing a person between their edges. "Iroh!" Kakashi moves to the old man's side. His head and hands are free, but the rest of his body is tangled in the gems.

"Kakashi, it's good to see you," he replies tiredly.

"Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine." One of Iroh's hands motions towards the entrance behind his cage. "But Zuko went after Azula again. I'm worried he may do something he will grow to regret."

Kakashi nods while brushing his hands over the crystals. They were sturdy, like thick glass. Three main ones pinned the upper half of Iroh's body. No ninjutsu would be efficient in releasing Iroh without hurting the old man in the process. "I'm going to get you out. Hold still."

"No!" Iroh shouts. "Do not waste time! Find the Avatar and his friend and get them out of here. I can take care of myself."

Kakashi curses to himself, looking towards the tunnel that Iroh motioned to. "I—"

A small flame lights in Iroh's free palm. "Don't worry, I'll catch up. Now go!"

Kakashi forces more chakra into his legs as he dashes away. He's halfway down the passage when he can hear faint explosions coming from in front of him. The continuous use of chakra on his limbs is starting to wear Kakashi out, but he has to make sure that the Avatar doesn't die. After all, he has to get home somehow.

The shadow clone's memories come flooding back to him. It's slightly disorienting, but nothing that Kakashi hasn't handled before. All the Dai Li upstairs have been incapacitated, either dead or restrained. With its job done, the clone dispersed.

The opening is just ahead of him. From what Kakashi can see, it leads into a wide-open cavern with numerous openings in the crystal-decorated walls. In front of him is the blue-dressed girl, most-likely Katara, surrounded by Dai Li agents. She's controlling water around her to form a barrier between her and the enemies. Behind them is a stream of water, useful for conserving his chakra in case of water jutsu. Even further back is Aang, one person against many Dai Li and Azula. Zuko is standing by her side.

There're only a few seconds before Kakashi's out in the open. He watches as the Avatar encases himself in a pyramid of crystals. It's not an efficient strategy.

His hands blur as he races out into the open, leaping into the air above Katara. Around Kakashi, all of the people nearby look up to see him. His hands land on the _Tori_ seal. "_Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu (Water Dragon Bullet)_!"

The large dragon of water extends from the stream below, jaws open in a silent roar. It slams down on the Dai Li around the girl, smashing the men into the rock walls with tremendous force. Katara drops control of her water tentacles as she stares at the giant form of the water dragon. The commotion brings the larger group's attention to him standing on the stream next to the manipulated water.

"_You!_" The princess shouts. She obviously still remembers him.

"Me," Kakashi returns nonchalantly. He doesn't say anymore as he allows the dragon to surge forward at the formation of earthbenders.

Without the surprise of his entrance, only a few are swept away by his water jutsu, the rest dodge out of the way. Kakashi flips through more hand signs. "_Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu (Water Bullet)_." He's able to catch some of the dodging Dai Li off-guard with the sudden torrent of water that streams from his mouth.

Everything seems to come to a halt when the crystal dome of the Avatar starts to glow brightly. A sudden shockwave and a pillar of light erupts from Aang's shield with enough force to disrupt his water dragon jutsu. Some of the unprepared agents are blown off their feet while those in the air in the middle of dodging are sent flying.

From the created opening, Aang hovers upward in the pillar of light, arrow tattoos and eyes glowing with white light. It's an ethereal scene, one that Kakashi has never seen before. He can almost sense the power radiating from the boy.

Kakashi's so enraptured, he almost misses the Fire Nation princess move her arms in a circular motion. In a split second, she extends her arm out, two fingers pointed straight at Aang. Kakashi's lone eye widens as he spots familiar white streaks of plasma race down her arm and out of her fingertips.

There's no time to hesitate. A hand shoves his headband off of his left eye allowing for the spinning red eye to see the world. The three tomoe spin together to create his Mangekyō Sharingan. Time slows almost to a standstill as Kakashi races forward to stop the lightning from reaching the boy. Even in his slowed vision, the lightning moves forward at a regular pace, creeping towards the unaware Avatar. Kakashi pumps his chakra throughout his body to beat the pace of the electricity.

Kakashi gathers his chakra in the palm of his right hand. More and more energy pools together before blue currents start to spark. There's only a second of soft murmurs before it erupts into the familiar chirping of a thousand birds. Lightning races up his arm as he charges it. Azula's lightning is still moving closer and closer towards Aang's heart. There's a shadow of a girl for a brief second in the boy's place.

With a leap, Kakashi launches off the ground, Sharingan pinned on a certain point of the streak of electricity. His right arm extends forward to intercept.

"_Raikiri_!"

The two streams of energy collide. Azula's lightning is no match for Kakashi's lightning cutter. The streak of lightning sputters out as the princess realizes that her attack hasn't worked. Those on the ground watch with a mix of emotions as Kakashi lands back on the ground, right arm still sparking with voltage.

"That's… impossible," Azula whispers to herself. Yet, in the silence of the cavern, everyone hears her statement.

Behind him the pillar light starts to lessen in intensity as the Avatar starts to drift back down towards the ground, still locked in the same pose.

Some Dai Li finally get the idea to escape before the Avatar comes back to consciousness. The ones closest to the princess kick up a large cloud of dust, obscuring everyone's vision. Before Kakashi can flick through the hand signs of a wind jutsu, a strong gust comes from behind him. It easily parts the participles in the air to reveal some of the Dai Li and the princess are gone without a trace.

Aang's eyes and tattoos are still glowing with the unnatural light as he stomps on the ground. Kakashi can feel the earth stir underneath his feet and move out towards the remaining agents and the lone firebender. All of them are suddenly sucked into the ground, only their heads remaining above so that they can breathe. It reminds Kakashi of his own _Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu (Double Suicide Decapitation)_.

With that last move, Aang stop glowing, almost collapsing where he stands. Kakashi manages to catch him before the boy falls. Katara rushes over, surfing on top of a small wave of water to reach them quicker. She takes Aang from Kakashi's hands, hugging the boy closely.

Kakashi staggers backward, adrenaline finally out. He quickly closes his left eye to stop the rapid drain of chakra. The shadow clone and the Sharingan wasn't a good combination for Kakashi's average chakra capacity, especially with the rest of the jutsu he performed.

Aang and Katara turn to him. "How did you stop Azula's lightning?" the girl asks in amazement.

"Who _are_ you?" the Avatar follows up.

Kakashi opens his mouth, but no sound comes out. His swaying gets more noticeable. There definitely aren't supposed to be two of them. "You're going to have to ask me that… after I wake up." And with that, Kakashi's right eye rolls upward as he falls onto his front.

Damn chakra exhaustion.

* * *

_A/N: And were are DONE with Season 2! Finally getting to the part where we start to split from canon, so exciting! Really enjoyed wrapping up this chapter. If you're following me on Tumblr, then you already know why this chapter was delayed for a week (and a day). Just want to apologize for the delay with this chapter since it's super long and I started my junior year of college (ohhh we're half way there~). Next chapter will probably also come after 2-3 weeks, but don't get your hopes up._

_Also this chapter probably has some typos since I just wanted to get it out there, I might come back to fix all of them sooner or later. __¯\\_(ツ)_/¯_

_If you want updates on my life/fic or sneak peeks or even some art I do, check me out on Tumblr at the-simplest-writer._


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

When Kakashi wakes, the first thing he does is to check if his mask hasn't been touched. His right eye groggily opens to see the warm brown ceiling while making sure the left one stays firmly shut. His hand brushes against his face, his headband off but mask untouched. It's only when he reaches up does he notice the shackle and chain on his right wrist. Kakashi looks at it blankly as the memories of the battle in the catacombs of Ba Sing Se slowly return to him.

He hums to himself as he looks around the bare room that they left him in. A part of him is surprised that he's not in a jail cell. Yet, the iron on his wrist rattles with his movement. It's long enough where he can sit up comfortably on the stiff bed, but not to leave the room. He's still in the palace if the color of the walls and ceiling and the tiling of the floor is anything to go by. A small side table has his Konoha headband laying there, distortedly reflecting his haggard appearance.

As Kakashi puts his headband back to its usual spot, he debates whether or not to pick the lock and escape when the door opens to reveal the waterbending girl. She's reading a scroll in her hands, distracted, not noticing that he's awake in his bed. It would be so easy to take her down and leave this place.

Instead, he lets loose a small huff, loud enough to be heard. The girl finally looks up from her reading, startled. "You're awake!"

"Glad you can tell," Kakashi replies nonchalantly. "How long was I out?"

"A little over a week." She looks downward, eyebrows furrowing. "I tried to heal you, but I didn't find anything wrong."

"Oh, I just needed a little rest, that's all. Mind explaining this?" Kakashi makes the chain jingle.

Seeing the shackle seems to jog her memories as suspicion grows in her eyes. "You bent lightning."

Kakashi just hums, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. It's always best to let people answer their own questions.

"You also bent water too! Who are you?"

As Kakashi thinks of a bullshit lie, a bright spot of orange appears in the doorway.

"Katara, Sokka says he needs the pl—" Aang stops himself when he finally notices that Kakashi sitting up and awake. "You're finally awake!" There's a dust trail following the Avatar as he zooms over to Kakashi's bedside. Kakashi has to lean back to make sure the kid doesn't smash his arrow tattoo against the metal plate. "I heard you managed to deflect Azula's lightning! How did you do that? What's with your eye? I didn't even mention, you saved me! If you didn't, I would've—"

"Whoa, slow down there," Kakashi says while gently pushing Aang away from his personal space. "First, if you wouldn't mind getting this off my wrist, that'd be great." He waves the chain around.

"Oh, I think one of the guards around here has the key—"

"Aang, we can't just release him!" Katara interrupts.

"But Katara, he saved me from Azula! And he pretty much saved Ba Sing Se too."

Kakashi places his cheek on his fist as he watches the two children go back and forth. Sometimes, he's glad that Sakura just ends arguments with her powerful punches.

"He bent _lightning_, that makes him a firebender!"

"He also bent water, that makes him… well, I don't know, but he's not a firebender!"

While the kids completely forget his presence in the room, Kakashi rubs his sore wrist. Sleeping in a shackle isn't the most comfortable experience. When he's finally had enough of their bickering, there's an audible sigh that interrupts the duo.

Katara and Aang pause in their heated debate, turning their heads back to the now-freed man lounging on the bed.

"How about I just tell you both what I am?"

They lean closer in suspense.

Kakashi makes sure to hold the pause. "I'm… a ninja!"

Their expressions shift into confusion. The Avatar even scratched the top of his bald head.  
"What's a 'ninja'?"

Katara only shrugs in response. Kakashi almost sweatdrops at their cluelessness.

"Something out of an Earth Kingdom fairy tale."

The two kids turn to their blind companion standing in the doorway. "Toph!"

The small girl crosses her arms across her chest. "When I snuck out of the house to go practice earthbending, I'd listen to the other kids tell each other stories that would make my parents faint." She steps into the room, closer to her friends. "One of them told me a story about ninjas, how in the ancient days of Ba Sing Se, the nobles would higher these sneaky assassins to do their dirty deeds. They did all these tricks like walking on water and disappear into thin air. And so far, that matches what Slippy here has done so far."

"But that doesn't explain how you're able to bend multiple elements," Katara states.

Kakashi shrugs once more. "Well, have you ever met a ninja? We do all sorts of tricks."

When it's clear they won't get a straight answer from the mysterious man, Aang brings up the other tension in the room.

"So… you're an assassin?" Aang asks hesitantly.

Kakashi shrugs, "When the situation calls for it. In fact, that's probably why the last member of your little gang isn't here. Scared him off, it seems."

"What? But who did you—"

"Hey, you kids get out of here!" Another voice growls from the door. A smartly dressed general steps in. The room was really starting to get crowded. "You," he points a finger at Kakashi, "get over here. The Earth King wants to see you."

The kids are quick to follow behind them, almost like leading a line of ducklings. Turns out the room that Kakashi was staying in was in one of the wings of the palace, almost making him tsk at their low security.

More guards come to flank him on either side, marching him towards the familiar towering doors. With a synchronized motion of their hands, they open the massive slabs to reveal the throne room. Sokka stands off to the right in front of the Earth King's throne, drawing the kids behind Kakashi towards the boy's position.

While quickly scanning the room, Kakashi immediately spots the familiar figure also present before the Earth King. "Oh? Iroh, how are you?"

The old man turns his head toward the recognizable lazy tone. "Kakashi," he grins, "it's nice to see you again."

Those around them seemed to look disbelieving at their casual conversation in front of the Earth King.

The king himself coughs softly into a fist to interrupt them, "Um, excuse me…"

Kakashi and Iroh respect King Kuei's weak command, finishing their conversation with a shared look.

Kuei fiddles around with his fingers. "From what I understand, you two are firebenders. One with a great history of laying siege on my city. My generals have advised that I put you both in the dungeons to join ex-Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, the two girls that assisted Princess Azula of the Fire Nation, and the surviving Dai Li agents." He glances at the general that led Kakashi out of his room. "However, General How vouches that Kakashi saved him from the coup that had the rest of the generals captured by the Dai Li. You also saved me from being thrown into my own prison by dealing with the treasonous Dai Li agents working with the Fire Nation princess. For that, Ba Sing Se thanks you.

"General Iroh, as the Avatar tells me, you warned Avatar Aang of the princess's invasion of my palace. In doing so, you allowed the Avatar and his friends to put a stop to the Coup of Ba Sing Se. For that, Ba Sing Se thanks you. Unfortunately, the same does not extend to your nephew. The remaining Dai Li agents who did not participate in the coup will be investigated and determine where their loyalties lie.

"I welcome you both to Ba Sing Se and hope that you continue your efforts in protecting the city with your efforts."

Kakashi and Iroh bow to the Earth King as the guards disperse around them. "Have you seen Zuko?" he turns to the old man.

Iroh sighs tiredly. "He will not speak to me. He sits in his cell alone and silent. I only wish our positions were switched."

The ninja shakes his head. "Can't say I feel sorry for him. He has to deal with the consequences of his actions," Kakashi replies. Had Zuko been a part of Konohagakure, he would've been executed. _If Sasuke ever returned to the village (if it was intact) the same would happen to him._

The approach of the children interrupts the adults' conversation.

"Uh…" Sokka starts, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. Toph has to elbow him hard enough that he rubs his side. "Thanks for saving me and Toph back there."

_This is awkward._ Kakashi mirrors the motion, making his silver hair sway a bit. "No problem."

At that, there's a deafening silence that fills the room. Kakashi peers at Iroh, the old man neatly ignoring the atmosphere around them.

"You shouldn't have killed those people!" Aang blurts out.

"Aang…" the waterbender says softly.

"Ma…" Kakashi sighs. "Would you rather had them hold your friends and the Earth King hostage instead?"

"No... but you could've just knocked them out or something!"

"I could've, but what if they escaped back into the remaining Dai Li and assassinated the King at a later point?"

"Well—"

"Or what if one woke up and killed your friends over there?"

At that, the Avatar falls silent.

Kakashi scratches the top of his head. "You seem to have forgotten that there's a war going on. A coup just took place and you think that those who participated are just getting a slap on their wrists."

"But the Air Nomads taught me—"

"Aang, he's right."

The Avatar turns to his Water Tribe friend. "Sokka?"

The teen shifts back and forth on his feet, obviously contemplating his next words. "It _is _war, and we're going to have to put an end the Fire Lord at some point to stop it. Which is why Kakashi here is coming with us into the Fire Nation!"

The whole group turns to the teen. "Eh?"

"Were taking him along?!" the Avatar shouts.

"What do you mean 'into the Fire Nation'?" Toph crosses her arms.

Kakashi just sighs once more. "Don't I get a say in this?"

* * *

"You've failed me, daughter."

Azula digs her forehead farther into the ground, a position that she's unused to. "Father, I—"

"_Silence."_ Her father rises from his seated position. There's an unusual emotion that comes up in Azula's mind. One that does not appear often. It's fear. "You were so confident that your plan was going to work. You managed to take Ba Sing Se's forces right from underneath the King's feet, yet you still failed. _How?_"

"There was a man!" She looks up to her father's eyes. So cold that they burn. Her hair flies free in front of her as her head rises. "He stopped my lightning! I was going to kill the Avatar! It was going to work if it wasn't for him!"

"What man?" Curiosity is better than rage.

"I don't know his name or where he comes from." Best to get the bad news out of the way. "But he created lightning in his palm and pierced through my own lightning. Yet, I encountered him before and he waterbended us away from those Earth Kingdom girls, creating a powerful whirlpool in the middle of a forest. And the Dai Li that accompanied me say that he moved the earth to block their path."

"Lightning, water, and earth?" The Fire Lord parts the wall of fire that spans the front of his stage. He steps down and stops in front of his kneeling daughter. "Tell me more about this man."

* * *

_Uh hi! Ok, sorry thing is like a month late but college is crazy! Also sorry that this chapter is kinda short, it was pretty hard to find a balance between Aang being a pacifist and Kakashi being... well, Kakashi. We'll be getting into kinda Season 3 but not really next chapter! Some things I want to keep in the story and others I'm definitely switching out! We'll also get to see of our grumpy boy next chapter!_

_If you want updates on my life/fic or sneak peeks or even some art I do, check me out on Tumblr at **the-simplest-writer**!_


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